Officer Saotome - Chp5: What Goes around....
by Sgt Ranma
Summary: I posted a whole new upload instead of a chapter so this new chp of mine will be more noticeable. To read previous chapters of Officer Saotome go to http://sgtranma.anifics.com . -- This fic is a story about Ranma 9 yrs after the end of the manga as a cop


IMPORTANT!!!!!!! If this is the first time you're reading  
this fic, you must read starting from Chapter 1 completely  
first! This story will seem very ridiculous and out of  
place if you don't.  
  
This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi  
OAV/Universe series. Hopefully you readers know some basic  
knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:) Compared to movies,  
I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some of the  
harsh language used. This ain't a lemon though, I don't plan  
on having any sex scenes at all.  
  
*Special Note. For those of you who are not mature enough to  
handle extremely graphic descriptions of violence and gore,  
I suggest you do not read this chapter. You have been  
warned. But if you like that kind of stuff, go on ahead.*  
  
Here are a few things you must know while reading this:  
  
-For all of you readers, PLEASE read the notes at the end of  
the fic before you start flaming me for things that you  
don't understand or think is bogus, my notes just might  
answer all your questions. If that doesn't do it, feel free  
to pound away at my mailbox.  
  
-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38  
and the Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.  
  
-At the end of manga 38 Ranma was at the end of his  
sophomore year in Furinkan High School and the year is set  
to 1992. Don't ask why, I chose that particular date out of  
convenience. This is to punctuate the times that Akane and  
Ranma met during their lives.  
  
-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has  
black hair (like the manga) and is now just as tall as his  
male form.  
  
-For now in this universe Ranma's curse is accepted just  
about everywhere with a quick explanation by Ranma. Don't  
ask why, it just makes the story easier to understand.  
  
-Ranma will seem very out of character, but you have to  
completely read from the first chapter to understand why.  
  
-SgtRanma  
  
Please visit my website at http://sgtranma.anifics.com! New  
fics will always appear there first! And I update often!  
  
------------------------  
  
  
Chapter 5: What Goes Around, Comes Around  
  
  
April 19th, 2001.  
Back alley, Kyo's Corner Arcade - Okayama, Japan. 12:42 PM.  
  
"We got ourselves a live one here!"  
  
Ranma hurried out of his car and ran to the big trash  
dumpster where Kiyone was crouching next to a body.  
  
"What do you got, Lieutenant?"  
  
Kiyone signaled Ranma over to what looked like a wooden  
handle stuck to the back of a young kid's head. The kid was  
wearing what looked like a school uniform, complete with a  
light jacket. Kiyone sighed and rolled the kid over to his  
front.  
  
"I think he's still alive," Kiyone said. "He has an  
irregular pulse. Paramedics are already on the way."  
  
Ranma gave a hard look to the young kid's face, he  
couldn't have been more than seventeen or sixteen years old.  
He was most likely a kid still in high school. The kid had  
some streaked yellow and blue hair dyed into his wild,  
juvenile haircut, complete with gelled up spikes. It was  
amazing how much more liberal kids of yonder were these  
days.  
  
"What do you guys know about him so far?" Ranma asked.  
  
Kiyone turned the kid over, his blue blazer flipped  
open, and his legs and arms twitched slightly. The kid let  
out a ghastly moan from his lips, an almost gurgling sound.  
Any attempts to resuscitate him now would be left to  
paramedics.  
  
"The kid ain't gonna make it," Ranma said grimly. "He  
has an ice pick or some kind of rod stuck in the back of his  
skull, he's probably if not already going brain dead," he  
sighed. "Why the fuck is there a dead kid here behind a damn  
arcade alley? I thought I wouldn't see any of this shit  
after leaving LA," he said, blowing a frustrated breath and  
swinging his arm and gesturing towards nothing in  
particular. Seeing young kids getting killed still  
penetrated morbid feelings into the depths of Ranma's cold  
heart.  
  
Kiyone winced at Ranma's cold comment, yet he was  
telling the harsh truth. She searched his body anyways  
despite moving around his body and decreasing his already  
low chance of survival. She reached inside a jacket pocket  
and smirked, she pulled out several crude needles and small  
packets of heroin and cocaine.  
  
She held them out for Ranma to see. "I guess whoever  
killed him was sloppy at getting rid of any incriminating  
evidence. We responded to a kid who dialed for emergency  
services when he saw the body. He thought he was just  
unconscious. We told him the same thing and told him that he  
was no longer required."  
  
Ranma nodded, and opened up a pig plastic evidence bag  
for Kiyone to put the drugs in. At that moment, an ambulance  
came through the alley with sirens and lights blazing. It  
wasn't one of those huge American style ambulances with the  
big box cab in the back, it was just a regular passenger van  
converted with medical equipment.  
  
"Damn." Ranma looked over to Kiyone. "I'll tell them to  
transport the kid to a hospital or to a coroner if he's  
dead, in the meanwhile I want you to ask around the local  
people, the schools, probe anyone who could have info on  
this little drug dealer." Ranma sighed. "I guess we'll have  
to cancel dinner together tonight."  
  
Kiyone nodded and started walking away with a note pad  
in one hand and a pen in the other.  
  
"Oh yeah, and lieutenant?" Kiyone turned her head  
around for a moment. "If it is required, you are to  
interrogate with the utmost efficiency," Ranma finished, his  
voice cold and void of emotion.  
  
Kiyone nodded with a stiff look in her eyes. She knew  
exactly what he meant.  
  
  
* * *  
  
April 19th, 2001  
38th floor War Dept. - Jap. Defense Agency - Tokyo, Japan. 1:50 PM.  
  
Nabiki typed furiously away on her computer keyboard,  
inputting info onto a computer database that was secured  
inside of her computer only.  
  
Her office was quite large for someone of her position,  
a GS-10 level civilian government worker. Nabiki had lied to  
all her friends and family about her occupation as a vice  
president of finance for some bigwig corporate company. It  
wasn't all a lie; she was involved in finance, albeit for  
the Japanese government. The Japanese Defense Agency, in  
fact. Director of Finances and Assets. Many saw it as quite  
an oddball occupation. But unbeknownst to those who did not  
know, this young brunette controlled every single firearm  
and every single bullet that came through Japan by sea or  
air. That didn't necessarily mean she knew much about the  
weapons that she approved, she didn't know jack shit about  
them actually. She was a master at managing money. Guns and  
tid bits about them were someone else's concern. She did  
what she knew best, managing money, and the handling of  
sensitive information. This was HER niche.  
  
So of course the room had to be large, not because she  
was an important person, but because her room required lots  
of hardware that aided in the security of all that sensitive  
information that passed through her computer day in and day  
out. She had a corner office, with a great view of Tokyo, 38  
stories up. But the windows were pitch black from the  
outside, and coated with several layers of polycarbonate  
film and a thick layer of almost indestructible polymer on  
top of that. Enough to stop a barrage of high power rifle  
fire before the steel armor inside of the office covered up  
the windows for further protection. It wouldn't do if a  
sniper decided to take her out from an adjacent skyscraper.  
  
The Ice Queen loved her money, but she loved the power  
as well. For someone so young, at the age of 27, Nabiki  
commanded a lot of authority. Not just the power of money.  
That was chump change compared to what she could do with the  
power of supreme authority over the majority of the public.  
THAT was something money just couldn't buy. The power of  
supremacy was an earned privilege.  
  
Nabiki paused for a moment and took her hands away from  
the keyboard. She leaned back in her big, ergonomic office  
chair with cheap cloth trim, not the luxurious Italian  
leather clad executive kind that she wished she could have.  
Oh, how she would treasure the feeling of buttery soft Nappa  
leather with rich walnut armrests, and a huge executive desk  
lined with laser cut glass and the finest gold trim for all  
her drawer handles. She just loved thinking about all the  
high class, impractical, goodies she could have, just for  
the hell of it. Who gave a shit if it was all superficial  
happiness anyway? But that's life, Nabiki knew that. Beggars  
can't be choosers.  
  
The thought that Ranma was a lot higher than her in  
rank put a frown on her face. Heh, the more she thought  
about it actually the more she scowled. A dumb jock idiot  
like him held one of the highest-ranking military/police  
positions in the country. Nabiki on the other hand had  
worked savagely and mercilessly to climb her way up to where  
she was now.  
  
"It's no use thinking about something that's already  
happened," Nabiki said absently to herself. She heaved a  
heavy sigh and placed her slender fingers back on the  
keyboard.  
  
She had to complete these orders when she had the time,  
or else someone would notice what she was doing.  
  
RING RING.  
  
Nabiki stopped and looked at her telephone before  
picking up the receiver.  
  
"Moshi, moshi."  
  
"Is this Nabiki Tendo?"  
  
"Director of Finances and Assets, JDA Agent Tendo  
Nabiki. How may I help you?"  
  
"Why hello, Nabiki."  
  
Nabiki frowned for a moment, her hand moved to the  
telephone, which was fused to her desk, and pressed a big  
red button. The earpiece emitted an audible click,  
confirming a switch to a secure channel routed to a digital  
signal scrambler that deterred eavesdropping. From there on  
the digital phone transmission would be passed through an  
encoding machine that carefully made sure to add a bunch of  
random garbled signals and alphanumeric binary codes to  
further mix up the call. But that wasn't the end of it  
either, it passed through a shit load of other gadgets  
unknown to the users of the phones. It was practically fool  
proof.  
  
"Who is this?" Nabiki asked suspiciously.  
  
"You know, there is no replacement-"  
  
"-For cubic displacement. A saying said by many  
automobile enthusiasts. How UN-clever a password." She  
sighed mentally at the ridiculous catch phrase. "You're the  
liaison for the contract, yes?" Nabiki said cautiously,  
cleverly choosing which words to say to prevent her from  
being arrested in case this phone was somehow being tapped.  
  
The voice on the other line laughed. "Why yes. I wanted  
to have an update of the shipment."  
  
"A small amount already has been sent, I'm sure you  
already received some instructions."  
  
"Yes we did."  
  
"Check the location given tonight after midnight,  
everything should be there. I'll send the rest like I have  
agreed to later on. For now I will only give you a small  
portion of what you have asked for, more than enough I  
hope."  
  
"Yes, it is. We will give you the rest of the money as  
promised right before you send us the rest of the shipment.  
We have already put 10 million yen in the account you gave  
us, I hope that will satisfy you."  
  
Nabiki closed the window to the database she was  
working on and accessed one of her bank accounts on a secure  
internet line. She smiled at her newfound cash. "Thank you."  
  
"Nice doing business with you Agent Tendo."  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 19th, 2001.  
Forensics Dept, National Police HQ - Tokyo, Japan. 2:00 PM  
  
The rubber clad forensic scientist casually pulled the  
white sheets off several corpses on steel examining tables.  
The stench from one of the bodies was horribly repulsive,  
both Kiyone and Ranma winced. The scientist was fortunate  
enough to have a filtered surgery mask on.  
  
"What have you got for us guy?" Ranma asked.  
  
"I've got about enough info on all these bodies to help  
out officers," the scientist said. He picked up a clipboard  
full of notes from a table and handed some papers to Ranma.  
  
"What can you tell us?" Kiyone asked.  
  
"That there's an amazing coincidence, that's what."  
  
Ranma perked his head up from looking at the papers in  
his hand. "Eh? What do you mean?"  
  
The scientist gave a grin that showed even with his  
mask, and pointed over to the dead pregnant women and the  
dead drug dealer from last night. "These two homicides are  
OBVIOUSLY connected to each other. This poor woman is the  
wife of a narco cat, and this poor bastard was the person  
was the guy interrogated by that detective."  
  
Ranma winced at the mention of a cat, but maintained  
his composure.  
  
"What I'm guessing according to what you two have  
submitted, is that the woman was killed to deter any further  
investigation, and the guy was killed to get rid of some  
loose ends. I'm also guessing you guys were already at the  
same conclusion, correct?"  
  
The two detectives nodded. "Go on, I still don't see  
anything new, you're basically repeating what I wrote in my  
fucking report," Ranma said, slightly irritated.  
  
"Hold on, I'll get there," the scientist said, taking  
his mask off. He tried his best to ignore Ranma's  
intimidating censure.  
  
He walked over to the other body they had found today,  
the kid with the object in the back of his head. "The  
motives and people for these two murders are completely  
different from the dead kid you found today. But..."  
  
"But what?" Kiyone said.  
  
The scientist picked up two little plastic bags of  
white cocaine from a counter. "This bag of narcotics," the  
scientist shook it to point it out, "is the sample you gave  
as evidence when you arrested Misano." He shook the other  
bag. "This bag is from the kid you found a couple hours ago.  
The chemical signatures are IDENTICAL."  
  
"What?!" Ranma and Kiyone exclaimed.  
  
"That's right. Identical. These two homicides and the  
one from a couple hours ago were committed for two  
completely different reasons, but the cocaine chemical  
structure and mixture is identical. And you know what that  
means."  
  
Ranma gave a small smile. "They're from the exact same  
supplier. We got ourselves a lead."  
  
Kiyone gave a smirk too. "Can you tell us more about  
the bodies though doc?"  
  
"Yeah, I was gonna get to that. Nothing much to say  
about the pregnant woman, she was stabbed first then smashed  
in the skull. Nothing unusual or special, except for how  
brutal her death was. The other one, Misano Hashimoto, was  
shot twice in the back of the head, close range execution  
style, two .380 slugs on the ground, and ejected casings.  
Fired from a very crude pistol, I might add. The shells were  
quite dirty and scratched, most likely from the extractor.  
And the firing pin signature on the primer is very light.  
All features of a poor handgun. I put all these notes in the  
papers I gave you."  
  
Ranma nodded. "What else?"  
  
The scientist pointed out some various bruises on  
Misano's corpse. "He was tortured, for one thing. Beaten  
quite heavily, most likely for intel. Then probably  
whacked."  
  
"I doubt the guy knew much, he certainly didn't know  
who I was," Ranma said.  
  
"The kid you found a couple hours ago, however, is a  
different story. We've already ID'd him. His name is  
Kusanagi, Hotaru. Only 17 years old, high school student.  
The wooden handle in the back of his head was actually an  
ice pick," the scientist said. He shook his head sadly.  
"Poor kid, died suffering. My diagnosis says he was stabbed  
last night, but he was still alive for hours on. He did  
become brain dead after a while though. By the time you guys  
must've found him he should have been a vegetable."  
  
Kiyone breathed a nervous sigh. "Poor kid. Can you tell  
us what high school he came from? All the people I  
interrogated confirmed he was a drug dealer, but no one knew  
where he was from." Kiyone scowled mentally, rubbing her  
reddened knuckles. She had to punch and beat the shit out of  
several thugs that she talked to on the streets for even  
that much info.  
  
  
"Well, that's an easy one. He's from Furinkan High  
School, down over in the Nerima district."  
  
"What?!" Ranma's eyes opened wide, he grabbed the  
scientist. "He's from Furinkan High School?"  
  
The doc tried to shove Ranma off. "Yeah, I confirmed  
that."  
  
"What a coincidence, the name of the supplier that  
Misano confessed is also a student at Furinkan," Kiyone  
added.  
  
Ranma stared wide eyed at Kiyone as well. He sighed and  
turned to the scientist.  
  
"Thanks for the info doc. I want you to put these  
bodies in the morgue, but make sure you don't make it public  
that they're dead, is that clear?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Yes sir, Detective."  
  
-----------------  
  
Ranma and Kiyone got back into their car, a brand new  
Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4. It looked like a very inconspicuous  
vehicle, an average station wagon in a very conservative  
pewter color. But for those who knew their automobiles, the  
Legnum VR-4 was a serious sports car, a perfect sleeper for  
the streets, surprising those who undermined its  
performance. Ranma's big Chevy looked out of place in Japan,  
and it was unsuitable for undercover duty. It was basically  
the government's gift to Ranma for being generous enough to  
work for them, nothing more. There were enough huge full  
size trucks around Tokyo from the American army base for the  
car to be seen as a legitimate government vehicle. Commander  
Takayama had given him instant approval and access to  
another car.  
  
"So Ranma, why were you so surprised about that high  
school kid?" Kiyone asked. She was curious as to what was  
going on inside of Ranma's mind.  
  
Ranma sat in the right hand side driver's seat, he  
hadn't started the car yet, he was tapping the steering  
wheel pondering something. "Kiyone, the bodies we found  
yesterday are still being held secret right? Held from the  
media?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, I put out a media blackout like you  
ordered. And Detective Juzo is under some psycho care at the  
moment, he won't be doing anything rash for now, he's very  
unstable."  
  
"Good. Good. Keep it that way."  
  
Kiyone looked at him for a moment, still waiting for an  
answer. "You still didn't answer my question Captain."  
  
Ranma looked over and stared at her eyes, he seemed to  
have been thinking something. "That kid's high school,  
Furinkan of Nerima, is where I used to attend."  
  
"......" Kiyone blinked. Her eyes tightened. "You've  
gotta be kidding me."  
  
"Nope," he answered simply. "I'm not. I'm guessing  
you're thinking exactly what I'm thinking, right?"  
  
"Let me guess, going undercover as students there?"  
  
Ranma nodded with a smirk. "I know a teacher there who  
will probably help out."  
  
He brought his hand to the keys in the ignition and  
twisted. The engine came alive with a high-pitched growl and  
a vacuumed whir from the turbochargers, signaling their  
spooling. Ranma shifted the manual gearbox to reverse and  
started driving away, carefully modulating his left foot on  
the clutch and his right on the throttle. "Oy, the Japanese  
National Police doesn't let you use firearms, right?"  
  
Kiyone shook her head. "No, they don't. All part of the  
strict gun control in Japan."  
  
"You know how to shoot a firearm?" he asked with a  
grin.  
  
"Ha!" Kiyone let out a laugh at Ranma. "I've been a cop  
way longer than you have, working in different parts of the  
universe. I can hold my own in marksmanship."  
  
"Is that so?" Ranma unlatched the holster for his Sig  
Sauer P226 from his back and handed the pistol and holster  
to Kiyone. He also pulled out the suppressor for it from his  
jacket. "Use this as your piece, it's the one Washu tweaked  
for me so you'll never have to reload it. There is a laser-  
aiming module that is built in to the guide rod, you  
activate it by pressing the latch release button on the  
right side of the frame. The silencer should come in handy  
too."  
  
"You know, that sounds so cheesy. Like something out of  
an action movie," Kiyone smirked, not noticing the gloomy  
look on Ranma's face at the playful joke. She pocketed the  
suppressor and examined the full sized pistol in her hand.  
It was light enough and felt very solidly built in her hand.  
It didn't excuse the fact that it was still horrible  
compared to her GP issue blaster. "This is such a primitive  
gun, light years away from Galaxy Police weapons."  
  
"Ehehe..." Ranma sweatdropped. "It works fine enough  
for me."  
  
"How do you work it? Besides pulling the trigger? It  
has these 3 levers on the left side, and who knows what.  
Only thing I recognize is the hammer, magazine release and  
the trigger."  
  
"The lever on the farthest left is the disassembly  
latch for field stripping. The middle lever is the slide  
release, and the lever on the left side of the gun grip is  
the hammer decocker. The gun works on cased ammunition, you  
pull the slide, it loads a round by pushing a case from the  
magazine to the feeding ramp and onto the barrel. You pull  
the trigger, the hammer lands on firing pin, which lands on  
bullet, and poof, the gun fires. When the magazine is empty,  
the slide stays locked back and open after the last shot,  
which you won't have a problem with this gun, since Washu  
made it so that it never goes empty," Ranma finished. He  
took a deep breath from saying all of that at once.  
  
Indeed it never goes empty, he thought. That night when  
he was going home from the Masaki's he stopped on the side  
of the road in the mountains and spent thirty minutes  
straight shooting his gun at the ground with his silencer  
attached. He must've fired about seven hundred rounds before  
he stopped. It boggled him to no ends as to how fantastic it  
was.  
  
"Oh, I see. I know how to use these. I thought I  
remembered something about them. I read about them in  
ancient history books at the Academy."  
  
"......"  
  
----------------  
  
April 19th, 2001.  
Classroom 1F, Furinkan High School - Nerima, Japan. 2:46 PM.  
  
"So, you've moved up to the senior classes, Hinako-  
sensei?"  
  
A young and hyper Hinako flurried around the room with  
candy in her hands along with some kind of doll strapped to  
the top of her head.  
  
"Wai, wai! Saotome-kun! It's been so long since we've  
seen each other!" Hinako cheered. She had a huge cutesy  
smile plastered on her kawaii face.  
  
Ranma arched his eyebrows and tried to give out a smile  
to cover his irritation toward Hinako-sensei's behavior in  
her younger form. He rubbed his temples slightly to get rid  
of the habitual frustration he formed whenever he was with  
Hinako-sensei. Even after 9 years since he first met her,  
she hadn't changed much. Still acting like a little kid in  
her younger form, she now looked to be in the early teens  
instead of a prepubescent adolescent.  
  
"Anyway, Hinako-sensei the reason we're here is  
because..."  
  
"Let me guess, you want to become a teacher like me?  
That's so wonderful Saotome-Kun! Wai!" Hinako cheered.  
  
Kiyone chuckled with her hand around her mouth. She was  
leaning against the wall near the doorway observing teacher  
and former student talking away. Ranma had warned her  
beforehand about the peculiarities of Hinako, but she didn't  
think it would be as bad as he said it would be.  
  
  
Ranma gave out a sigh. "Actually Hinako-sensei, we came  
here for something else."  
  
"Oh? What is it?" she asked with a cute smile.  
  
"It's quite a serious matter, we came here to  
investigate the activities of a possible criminal in the  
school campus," Kiyone said, stepping forward.  
  
"Eh?" Hinako turned to face Ranma.  
  
"Yes, we're detectives sent to investigate," Ranma  
nodded. He hoped the Hollywood-esque description of who they  
were didn't sound too corny.  
  
"Oh, ok then. Happo go yen satsu."  
  
Hinako sat down on her desk chair and pulled out a  
five-yen piece. She aimed it at Ranma and drained his  
energy. He was caught by surprise, oddly his reflexes didn't  
react to Hinako's slow actions since it had been so long  
since she had drained him.  
  
"Ack!" Ranma stood helplessly as Hinako drained out his  
aura. It wasn't as bad as during his teen years since he was  
much stronger now, but it still felt tiring. No, hold that  
thought. It felt like shit.  
  
Hinako's body turned bigger, more mature, and of course  
the small clothes she was wearing as a child stretched  
almost to the point of bursting. Ranma mentally sighed as  
his strength withered. Everything was still the same.  
  
Kiyone was unfazed by the transformation of a small  
child to adult. Weirder shit happened in the Masaki  
household on even a boring day.  
  
"So Ranma-kun, what is it that's so serious?" Hinako  
asked in her sultry voice.  
  
Ranma stumbled around for a moment, still fazed by the  
draining of his ki. He smacked himself in the head and  
focused his tired eyes.  
  
"Well, first of all, I gotta tell you what we are.  
That's my partner over there; her name is Kiyone Makibi," he  
pointed out. "We're both detectives, she's a lieutenant from  
the Japanese National Police, I'm a captain from the  
National Security Agency."  
  
Hinako gave an impressed nod and smirk to Ranma.  
"Sugoi, you've turned into a law man! So that's what you did  
with all that studying and hard work."  
  
"Eh, it's a long story. Back to the subject. We need  
your help to stay undercover inside of Furinkan. Can you do  
that for us?"  
  
"Hmmm..." Hinako frowned. "I want to have some more  
details on what you two are investigating."  
  
Kiyone went up closer to the teacher's desk where  
Hinako was sitting to talk to her directly. "This past week  
there has been a string of murders around Okayama, we traced  
them to some narcotics dealers and a lead points out to this  
school. We are suspecting that there is a student here who  
is a drug liaison for some big drug dealer somewhere around  
the Okayama or Tokyo area."  
  
"A drug dealer here? Surely you're mistaken," Hinako  
nervously said.  
  
Her reaction didn't go unnoticed by Ranma. "It's true.  
We can't tell you how exactly we came to that conclusion,  
but we need your help to clean up the crime here. Will you  
cooperate?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Of course, I'll do whatever is necessary to rid this  
school of delinquents."  
  
Ranma smiled and pulled out a folded note from one of  
his pockets and handed it to Hinako. "Here's a list of  
things we want you to take care of, they should be pretty  
easy. I'll take care of the rest. I also want you to know  
that every word that has been said in this room is  
confidential, and you tell no one Ms. Hinako. Starting  
tomorrow, we're going to be enrolled seniors in Furinkan  
High."  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 19th, 2001.  
Living Room - Tendo Home - Nerima, Japan. 6:25 PM.  
  
"Itadakimasu!"  
  
Akane sat down in between Ryoga and her older sister  
Kasumi who happened to be visiting along with her husband  
Tofu. The two had married about a year before she and Ryoga  
had, and even then Ranma had not come over to Japan to  
attend the wedding, even though he was sent an invitation.  
  
The entire table was gorged with platters and platters  
of food, all made by Akane. Years and years of hard  
persistent practice paid off. Everyone forgot about her bad  
cooking, thanks to constant lessons from Kasumi.  
  
Genma and Nodoka were present too, it was the first  
time they had come over since Ranma arrived in Japan. They  
had called beforehand that they were going to visit to have  
a conversation with them. With Tofu and Kasumi, Ryoga,  
herself, and her father, Akane had agreed to make a feast  
for dinner. In fact the only person who couldn't make it was  
Nabiki, who said she was far too busy with a certain project  
to join them.  
  
Soun, Akane, and Ryoga always acted humble towards the  
Saotomes, after all, they were being extremely generous in  
even bothering to associate with the Tendo's, let alone  
eating dinner together. Although Genma and Nodoka didn't  
have any hard feelings towards Akane, she and her father  
Soun were still very uneasy around them even after 5 years  
of her relationship with Ryoga. After all, it was almost  
entirely Akane's fault for dishonoring the Tendo family, yet  
the reason why the Saotomes didn't spit on their family name  
and kill Ryoga was because Ranma had explicitly told his  
parents to forget about it, that their honor should be of no  
concern to the Tendos anymore and that it was none of their  
business.  
  
"So, Auntie and Uncle, what brings you here?" Akane  
asked while scooping some rice into a bowl.  
  
Nodoka laid her bowl and chopsticks down on the dining  
table and folded her hands on her lap. She looked sternly  
over to Akane and Ryoga. "We have come here to discuss some  
matters between you and Ranma. Since it's been nearly 2  
weeks since he came back to Japan unexpectedly, we figured  
we should hurry up and talk to you about it."  
  
Genma nodded quietly next to his wife. Actually,  
instead of sitting here having a serious conversation with  
the Tendos, he much rather wanted to finish his dinner as  
quickly as possible and have a shogi match with Soun. But  
his wife had clearly explained to him what would happen,  
polishing her sword in front of him to let him know how  
serious she was.  
  
"What is it you'd like to discuss, Saotome-obasama?"  
Ryoga asked. He was feeling very tense, he tried to show his  
best smile towards the matriarch.  
  
Soun, Tofu, and Kasumi stopped eating and put their  
eating utensils down on the table. They gave their utmost  
attention to Nodoka and stood silent.  
  
Nodoka cleared her throat, and quietly sighed. "It's  
been two weeks since Ranma came here. I know that for all of  
us this was quite a shock as well as a surprise," Nodoka  
said. She looked over at her husband, and then fixed her  
eyes on everyone else around the table. "Genma and I  
couldn't be any happier, but it seems that even in the first  
day he arrives here he seems to have gotten into an  
altercation with this family," she said, in a cold voice.  
  
Ryoga bit the inside of his cheek to keep from  
frowning, his temper started to rise. "Excuse me," Ryoga  
said snottily, "but--"  
  
Before he could even finish his remark, Nodoka abruptly  
cut him off. "Silence! Wait till I am finished please!"  
Nodoka said sharply. These kids were just way too spoiled,  
she thought.  
  
The others, including Genma, were taken aback and  
flinched. Ryoga shut his mouth tight, droplets of fear  
perspiring through the pores of his forehead. Everyone there  
knew that they should watch out for Nodoka when she was mad,  
only because they DIDN'T KNOW what she would do. It could be  
anything. The contradicting feature to that was also the  
fact that the Saotome matriarch was a kind and gentle person  
as well.  
  
"All of you know that Ranma disappeared 4 years ago and  
he lost touch with every one of you here. The only thing you  
did know was that he became a cop somewhere in California.  
What you don't know is the amount of stress he went through  
while living there," she said.  
  
The others nodded in return. Akane and Ryoga, on the  
other hand, were trying their best not to pale at her  
statement. They had already received a small glimpse of how  
his life had been like.  
  
Nodoka fixed a strong glare towards Akane, and  
especially at Ryoga. "Even though he didn't speak to his own  
parents much, he did tell us of some the problems he  
encountered while living there. For the few days he's stayed  
with us before moving out to Okayama, he was thoughtful  
enough to tell us of some of the horrible things he's seen  
and experienced, and yet... even now I still think he hides  
his past from us. And that I can't do anything about."  
  
"Oh my," Kasumi let out. "What happened to him while he  
was in America Saotome-obasama?"  
  
Soun lit his cigarette and took a strong puff, he  
didn't have much of an appetite anymore, since BOTH Saotomes  
had come to visit them. He sagely nodded, and looked towards  
Genma and Nodoka. "What is it you would like us to do  
Nodoka? We'll do anything you ask."  
  
"We're not here to intimidate you, Tendo," Nodoka  
replied harshly. "We're here to set up a truce, a treaty if  
you may."  
  
Lifting his cigarette away, Soun nodded. "Go on."  
  
Before Nodoka could explain, Ryoga snapped in. "Hold on  
there, what kind of treaty are you talking about Mrs.-"  
  
Without even finishing his question Ryoga stopped as he  
felt the tingling of cold steel caressing the base of his  
throat.  
  
"You'll hear everything you need to Ryoga-kun," she  
gently said. "If you're a good boy and listen, you'll hear  
everything you need to. For now, be a proper young man,  
like my son would be, and allow me to speak," Nodoka coldly  
said. The atmospheric temperature shot down to hell for a  
couple moments.  
  
Genma shifted nervously on his tatami mat, his wife's  
cold hearted expression left him shaking in fear. How ironic  
it was for a male who lives on the principle of being a man  
among men. He looked over to his friend Soun, who was tense  
as well. He hoped his wife wouldn't ruin the prospect of a  
shogi game between him and Soun.  
  
"Now, as I was saying. We need to make some amends with  
each other for Ranma's sake." Nodoka pulled out a small note  
from a pocket and unfolded it. "I wrote down a couple of  
reasonable edicts for us to follow. I'm hoping the rest of  
you will agree."  
  
The sound of two people (namely a certain young couple)  
gulping a lump down their throats could be heard across the  
dining room.  
  
Tofu and Kasumi sat in their places with the biggest  
smile they could possible plaster on their nervous faces.  
Kasumi winced internally as she watched Ryoga and Akane's  
uneasy body language. They were practically screaming,  
"CRAP!"  
  
However, it didn't excuse the fact that they both  
deserved this anyhow. Kasumi was VERY upset when Tendo honor  
was compromised, if there was one thing she treasured along  
with her family's love, it was her pride and honor. It was  
by a slim miracle on Ranma's part that he didn't place the  
blame on the Tendo's.  
  
When people heard through the grapevine of what had  
happened between Ranma and Akane over four years ago, they  
were flabbergasted. For some reason, everyone who knew him,  
whether they would admit it or not, acquired a newfound  
respect for Ranma for being as merciful as he was. For a  
person who spent the last couple of his years studying his  
ass off for a girl he loved with all his heart, he took it  
pretty well when she stabbed his heart and stuffed it down  
his throat from a fucking platter.  
  
Kasumi glanced at her husband, who was at the moment  
sweating through the phony cheer on his face as Nodoka  
talked to all of them. Getting married and breaking away  
from her family for her own independence changed Kasumi  
quite a bit, despite how protective Tofu was of her. It had  
taken him a while to get over his zaniness for her, but he  
eventually got the balls to ask her out once he finally got  
the sense that neither of them were going to get any  
younger.  
  
In the background, Nodoka droned on and on about how  
Ranma should be handled, and what precautions everyone  
should take against him. Everyone sat patiently listening to  
her every word, Akane was flushed red with shame and Ryoga  
looked paler as every second passed by. Through all her talk  
and rhetoric though, it really just narrowed down to a  
couple of things. Do not provoke Ranma into violence, do not  
bother or harass him unnecessarily, and try to make peace  
with him somehow.  
  
Twiddling his fingers, Genma let out a small sigh as  
his wife made some finishing remarks to her long speech. It  
had gone on for only about ten minutes, but it felt like  
hours. Oh, if only at times like this he wished he could  
temporarily have his panda curse. He could tune out the rest  
of the world and not care a whit about the problems that  
surrounded him.  
  
"--and that is all I have to say on that matter. I have  
nothing else to add," Nodoka finished. She immediately had a  
kind smile on her face. "Now, let's enjoy this fine meal  
that Akane has cooked for us."  
  
The others let out their breaths, looking visibly  
relieved. Genma being his hungry self started shoveling down  
the food in front of him (although not as rudely as he used  
to, with the vacancy of Ranma to fight over with). The  
others started into some small talk and their chitchat,  
talking about nothing in particular.  
  
Akane looked over to her husband who was chatting along  
with Tofu-sensei about martial arts and healing remedies.  
Soun and Genma seemed to be talking about how much they were  
looking forward to their Shogi game after dinner. Kasumi-  
oneechan and Nodoka-obasama seemed to be talking about  
cooking.  
  
Not feeling much of an appetite, Akane sat to herself  
picking around her rice and eating a couple of small bites.  
She was pondering about what Ranma was doing right now.  
Nodoka eventually noticed Akane.  
  
"Dear, what's wrong?" the elderly woman asked.  
  
Akane perked her head up and looked at her, scrambling  
in her mind for something to say. "Oh, nothing, obasama. I  
was just thinking for a second," she said lamely.  
  
"Oh? What is it?"  
  
"Um..." Akane bit her lip for a second, debating if she  
should ask or not. She went with the former. "I was  
wondering where Ranma lives right not, since he doesn't stay  
in your house."  
  
This caught the attention of the others, and especially  
Ryoga, who had a scowl on his face.  
  
"Well, as a matter of fact he has a condo up in Okayama  
Akane-chan. Me and Genma were thinking of going there  
sometime this week," Nodoka said smiling. "Would you like to  
come with us?"  
  
"I'll have to give you a rain check on that, obasama.  
Thank you though." Akane looked over to Ryoga who had a  
questioning look on his face.  
  
"That's no trouble, dear. You tell us immediately if  
you wish to join us."  
  
Akane slowly nodded her head. "Yes, obasama."  
  
---------------  
  
After dinner was over, Kasumi and Akane cleaned off the  
dining table while everyone else parted to do their own  
thing. The two sisters stayed behind in the kitchen to wash  
and dry the dishes.  
  
While Genma and Soun were starting off their match and  
Nodoka and Tofu talked about herbal therapies, Ryoga quietly  
snuck into the kitchen behind Akane and Kasumi.  
  
"Hey Kasumi, I'll take care of the dishes, it's my duty  
as a host," Ryoga said.  
  
A slightly startled brunette turned around to give  
Ryoga a smile. "There's no need, Ryoga-kun, I enjoy doing  
this."  
  
"No, no, I insist. Please, let me take care of it,"  
Ryoga smiled back.  
  
"Well, thank you." Kasumi wiped her hands and arms with  
a towel and left the married couple in the kitchen.  
  
Akane watched as her sister exited the kitchen and  
Ryoga dipped his arms in the sink to wash the dishes.  
  
"Ok, Ryo-chan, what did you want to talk to me about?"  
  
Ryoga didn't take his eyes off the dishes. "I was  
wondering what we should do about what Nodoka-san told us,"  
he replied.  
  
"Ah..." understanding dawned her face. "Yeah, me too. I  
guess we have to try to make amends with Ranma somehow, Ryo-  
chan."  
  
Ryoga's brow wrinkled slightly, his voice getting taut.  
"I don't like that. I still have to beat him down and make  
him pay for what he did to me."  
  
"What he did to you?" Akane frowned at the bandanna  
boy. "Ryoga, Saotome-obasama may be right. I mean... think  
of all he must've been through while he was overseas. We  
read his psychology reports and his videos with our own  
eyes, he's been scarred for life."  
  
While most people would think that a person would  
mature as he/she gains wisdom and the experience of events  
through the course of time, Ryoga just wasn't one of them.  
  
"So what? That bastard has made my life miserable! I  
trekked for years on my own with no one to help me out or  
care for me or..." Ryoga looked over to Akane's pupils, with  
a soft look in his own eyes.. "...or no one to love me.  
Ranma was the cause for all of that! He bullied me in junior  
high, humiliated me through our teen years, and even now...  
Even a couple of weeks ago he comes back, ruins a happy  
occasion, insults everyone there, and to top it all off he  
breaks my damn arm." He pointed out his flexible elbow  
splint, which was worn as a precaution in case his joint  
dislocated again.  
  
Akane shook her head and exhaled a breath of  
frustration. "Jesus, come on Ryo-chan, we have to be careful  
now. You know what I mean. I don't want to be Ranma's enemy  
forever, I don't want to have bad blood among us because of  
our stubbornness. Please tell me you won't do anything rash  
and regretful, okay, honey?"  
  
Ryoga shook his head and sighed. "All right. For you,  
Akane-chan. You know I'll do anything for you."  
  
With that, the shorthaired girl gave a smirk and  
tiptoed to give her lover a sweet kiss to the lips.  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 19th, 2001.  
Outside Kiyone and Mihoshi's Apartment - Okayama, Japan. 4:30 PM.  
  
"I'll pick you up tomorrow, remember to dress in the  
right stuff and find a way to hide your piece, if you can't  
call me and I'll try to get a holster for you," Ranma said.  
  
Kiyone nodded and grabbed her purse from the backseat.  
"So, tomorrow morning, at 6:00 AM?"  
  
Ranma scratched his head. "Yeah. I'm gonna go and set  
up some undercover ID's for ourselves, and a place to stay  
in Nerima temporarily in case anyone gets suspicious. You go  
ahead by yourself with Mihoshi and take care of the  
homicides that have been assigned to you."  
  
"What are you going to be doing in the meantime?"  
Kiyone asked.  
  
"I have to report to my commander, he beeped me for  
something."  
  
"Oh, ok then," she nodded off. "I'll see you later  
then, bye."  
  
"Ja ne."  
  
He shifted the car out of neutral and whipped the  
Legnum around to make a U-turn, waving to Kiyone as he drove  
past her. This car was equipped with a crudely installed GPS  
system that was tacked onto the dashboard, unlike his Chevy  
Tahoe, which had an instrument panel that neatly integrated  
LCD screen on the console. This car actually had a laptop  
module with a modified keyboard glued on.  
  
He pressed one of the preset buttons on the receiver,  
pinpointing and routing a direct course to JNSA HQ in  
downtown Tokyo. Ranma frowned as he saw the data computing,  
according to the CPU's calculations it would take him an  
hour to get to his destination, especially in the rush hour  
traffic.  
  
Ranma paid no attention to the speed limit posted on  
the street signs and downshifted the car from fifth to third  
gear, in the blink of an eye he double-clutched (his  
meticulous martial artist precision allowed him to be quite  
a skilled driver) and perfectly matched the RPM while  
slamming the throttle, causing the engine to howl loudly and  
the car to bog and surge forward as the turbochargers kicked  
in and picked up on the lag. "Might as well get a move on  
it..."  
  
----------------  
  
"Stick it up your fucking ass why don't ya!?"  
  
"Why don't you make me you fucking blind ass  
cockroach!? It was my right of way!"  
  
"Fuck you and your ugly fucking momma!"  
  
"You son of a bitch!! I'll kill you!"  
  
Two men climbed out of their mangled cars in the middle  
of the street, clogging up traffic in the middle of downtown  
Tokyo. The two jumped on top of their crumpled hoods and  
duked it out with each other, throwing raging punches  
wildly, in an effort to draw first blood. It seemed that  
when the traffic light turned green one of the drivers had  
tried to make a U-turn while a car from the other side was  
going straight. The two met head on, shifting the cars  
perpendicular to the street.  
  
A dull gray Mitsubishi station wagon rounded the corner  
block, the driver a dreary eyed irritated woman glumly  
steering with one hand while trying to wipe water off her  
face with the other.  
  
"I can't believe this. I CANNOT believe this. How the  
hell does that damn ladle lady find me? How? And in the  
middle of Tokyo for crying out loud!" a red hot Ranma-chan  
smacked her forehead in disbelief. The entire right panel of  
her door had droplets of water beading off, and the window  
was rolled all the way down.  
  
Ranma absentmindedly kept her car straight on course;  
she didn't notice the traffic pileup that was accumulating  
in front of her. Of course, there were no other cars in her  
direction; it was all on the other side, leading to a  
collision course with the two men rumbling on the hood of  
their cars.  
  
One of the disgruntled drivers was about to execute a  
sloppy uppercut on the others face when he saw a station  
wagon speeding straight towards him with no sign of  
stopping. The other guy turned his bruised his head to see  
the same thing.  
  
"Holy shit!" both blurted.  
  
"Nani?" Ranma-chan blinked and her eyes opened wide in  
comprehension. "Holy shit!"  
  
Ranma instinctively double clutched and shifted the car  
into first causing the engine to brake the engine, slamming  
her brakes and swerving her car to the left while yanking  
her parking brake lever as hard as she could. The car  
skidded on its side, swiveling wildly, the tires smoked out  
and screeched loud enough to paralyze the two men on the  
hood.  
  
"Damn it!" Ranma tried everything she could to get the  
car stable, it screeched to a halt centimeters away from the  
two men and their cars.  
  
Ranma looked out from her driver side window, seeing  
how close she was to a TC. "Whew..." she sighed. She checked  
to see if her transmission was mangled from the emergency  
stop, fortunately it wasn't.  
  
Both of the men who were fighting forgot what they were  
doing for the moment and kneeled to face Ranma-chan with  
bewildered looks on their faces.  
  
"You stupid bitch! Watch where you're goin'!"  
  
"Dumb fucking broad! Are you fucking retarded or  
something?"  
  
Ranma looked up with an irritated look on her face, her  
destination was only a couple of meters down in the  
underground parking entrance, she did not need another  
obstacle after 50 minutes of driving in slow city traffic.  
  
"Hey bud, it was a small mistake, gimme a break will  
ya?" Ranma-chan sighed.  
  
Both men sneered back at her, too enraged in what had  
happened to notice what a knockout beauty she was.  
  
"Fuck you bitch!" the man closest to her whipped his  
arm to backhand Ranma-chan across the face.  
  
Ranma-chan grunted her disapproval as she caught the  
hand and twisted it to have the back of the hand pushed away  
against the wrist. The man screamed in pain, his body  
slipped to the side as his body squirmed.  
  
The other man threw a clumsy punch towards Ranma's  
face, aiming downwards from his awkward position on the hood  
of the car. She merely pulled her head back and let the fist  
fly past her. Ranma elbow jabbed the man fast and hard  
impacting his jaw, she then pushed him away the best she  
could and grabbed his head, slamming it through the  
windshield of the car he was on. She noticed that the man  
with the injured wrist was recovering and attempting to make  
another strike, so she made a vice of her hands on the guy's  
throat, activating a pressure point to send an overflow of  
blood to one of the veins, causing him to pass out.  
  
"Damn you two for wasting my time," she huffed. Ranma  
picked up the receiver for her radio that was attached to  
the center console and pressed a button. She brought the  
mike to her lips and clicked the transmitter. "Tokyo Metro,  
Tokyo Metro, please come in, this is a federal agent  
transmitting, unit 5-King-90-16." Ranma had the opportunity  
to choose any alphanumeric ID she wanted, she had chosen her  
old one that she had gotten used to while working in LA.  
  
The radio chirped back. "Tokyo Metropolitan Police, go  
ahead."  
  
"Yeah, I have two guys here who assaulted a peace  
officer and a TC in front of the west wing of JNSA  
Headquarters, requesting a patrol unit to reprimand them,  
over." Ranma peeked over to see the two guys still  
unconscious.  
  
"10-4, Bokutou Traffic Division units are on the way."  
  
Ranma snapped the receiver back to its plastic holding  
rack and pulled her car away from the traffic collision. She  
maneuvered around with her code 3 lights blaring to plow  
through the sidewalk. She entered the garage of the JNSA  
after showing her identification to a couple of heavily  
armed sentries around the perimeter.  
  
After parking the car and getting out, she headed  
towards the elevator and into the lobby, where she had to  
walk through to yet another elevator, one which was  
restricted to only high ranking officers. Being a captain,  
Ranma fell under this category.  
  
She didn't notice the appreciative looks and the ogling  
she was receiving from the men around her, and the jealous  
glares of the OL's and female operatives who were walking  
past her or being passed by her. Even the arrogant ones who  
considered themselves beauties were shamed by how perfect  
and damn good looking this 6-foot stranger was. And this was  
all through Ranma's masculine clothes she usually wore in  
male form.  
  
After years of having a curse, Ranma sometimes just  
forgot that she was transformed into a girl; after all it  
was her own body. And after years of not having any fiancees  
chasing after him, she didn't pay much attention to people  
who checked him out for his/her looks.  
  
She eventually came to the 46th floor, the Public  
Safety Commission operations floor. Each floor of this  
skyscraper was huge, some of them specially made to  
intertwine staircases with adjacent upper and lower floors.  
Ranma headed off to a large steel door outside the elevator  
and in the corridor. The door had no knob, just a large  
control panel next to it that had a retina scan, latent  
scan, and a magnetic card scanner. The sign read,   
  
"Please identify yourself," an electronic voice  
indicated.  
  
Ranma pulled out her NSA card, and slipped it into the  
scanner. She then put her hands on the latent scan and she  
stuck her face in the rubber molding for her eyes.  
  
A laser beam flashed through her eyes and a blue light  
shimmered at her hands, a green light illuminated brightly  
on the machine.  
  
"ID confirmed. Welcome, Captain Saotome, Ranma," the  
machine chirped.  
  
"Weird shit..." she said, walking through the opened  
door.  
  
She walked in and out to a large area, there was a  
flurry of people working on their computers and carrying  
around files and boxes. They were all civilian workers  
however, none of them were field agents. Ranma noticed the  
vaulted armory across the huge room was open, yet nobody was  
going near that area. The reason? No one would ever dare go  
into a field agent's territory.  
  
"Oy, Ranma! Over here!"  
  
Ranma turned to see Commander Takayama waving to her  
through an open door in another room. She walked over to  
greet him.  
  
"Hello, sir. What was I called here for?"  
  
Takayama gave her an appreciative nod, looking her  
over. "I must say, you look pretty damn fine in your female  
form. First time I've ever seen it."  
  
Ranma blinked. Oh yeah, she was splashed as she was  
driving here, it didn't even occur to her to change back.  
Old habits died hard. She idly wondered how Takayama  
recognized her in girl form.  
  
"Sir, where is Captain Saotome? I thought you said he  
was a boy," said a voice from behind.  
  
The commander stepped to the side, revealing a young  
man with a crew cut and black tactical clothing. From first  
glance, it looked like he was physically fit and muscular  
underneath, and he was an intimidating 6' 3" tall. He had a  
condescending look in his eyes, he seemed to be glaring  
straight at Ranma, who was ignoring him at the moment and  
looking at the commander.  
  
"Commander, who's this?" Ranma-chan asked.  
  
Takayama replied, "Meet your new partner, Ranma. He's  
a-"  
  
The young man cut the commander off. "My name is  
Sergeant Jackson Samamoto, ex-French GIGN operative and  
current JNSA MaxFor Agent," he arrogantly said, particularly  
emphasizing the "GIGN operative" part. "And who are you?  
We're expecting a Captain Ranma Saotome." He was giving a  
chauvinistic ogle to the gorgeous girl in front of him.  
  
Ranma gave him a glare. "He's already here," she said.  
  
Takayama sighed and stepped back from the two, letting  
Ranma introduce herself.  
  
Ranma pulled out her mini Washu-thermos (he couldn't  
think of any other special name to give to the contraption)  
from her left pocket, she positioned it on top of her head  
and pushed the red button, tilting her head back so that the  
warm water would splash only her face.  
  
In the course of a second her entire body morphed, the  
clothes that were previously loose now fitted perfectly  
well, Ranma's chest swelled down and now had a masculine  
bishounen face. The soft, shiny hair from his girl form was  
now a follicle of thick and rough hair, giving him a rugged  
and handsome look.  
  
Takayama nodded his head with an appreciative look.  
Jackson on the other hand had eyes that were as wide as  
saucers and a brain that seemed to be jammed in neutral from  
the overload of what he just saw.  
  
"Sugoi, sugoi! I've never seen you actually transform  
in front of me before, it's quite an amazing feat to see!"  
Takayama said excitedly.  
  
Ranma wiped the excess water off his face, he rubbed  
his eyes and faced his superior officer. "I've had it happen  
so many times, sometimes I forget whether I'm in girl form  
or boy form," Ranma said.  
  
A few feet away from them was a flabbergasted Jackson,  
his brain finally shifted out of neutral but it seemed now  
to be parked in reverse. "Who-wha-when...how the hell did  
you change from a girl to a boy!?" Jackson stuttered.  
  
The now male Ranma gave a grin. "It's a curse. I'll  
explain it to you later."  
  
The elder Takayama had a huge grin plastered on his  
face, he leaned over to Jackson and whispered something  
lengthy in his ear. The young man's face dawned  
comprehension, although his eyes still seemed a bit weary.  
  
Jackson narrowed his eyes and fixed Ranma with a stare.  
"So, it was true. You do have some kind of magical or  
spiritual power that allows you to change genders."  
  
Ranma ignored Jackson's glare, turning to face  
Takayama. "So, where'd he come from?"  
  
"He's one of the twenty two other MaxFor agents in this  
country, he's been working for us for about four months  
before you came. Unfortunately you're one of only three  
agents who have any investigative experience and Jackson has  
none," Takayama replied. Jackson seemed to scowl a little at  
the last comment. "The other two are barely adequate at it,  
not to mention they're both on the opposite ends of Japan.  
So you're the only capable agent I can depend on."  
  
"So, what's his background?" Ranma queried.  
  
"His parents are Japanese and he was born here, but the  
entire family moved to France while he was still young. He  
went into the French Army after applying for citizenship,  
eventually making his way into their top counter-terrorism  
unit, the GIGN. He can speak English, French, and Japanese  
very fluently, we recruited him the same way we recruited  
you, and offered him Japanese citizenship," Takayama  
finished.  
  
"Is that so?" Ranma nodded. He turned to face Jackson.  
"Do you know anything about me?" he asked.  
  
Jackson nodded haughtily. "Yeah, you're the hot-shot  
detective from the Los Angeles Police Department over in the  
U.S., and some sort of martial artist," he said. He narrowed  
his eyes. "You're the second in command of MaxFor after  
Commander Takayama?" Jackson asked incredulously. He  
couldn't believe this pigtailed guy who was only a year or  
so older than him was one of the most authoritative figures  
in Japan.  
  
"You know," Ranma sighed, "I know what you're trying to  
do, and I don't like it, so just shove it, capisce?" Ranma  
replied back with one of his eyebrows raised. "I know you  
think I'm some low-down, dinky, donut eating flatfoot who  
got a lucky break just cause he's a nip detective in  
America, okay? You and your pansy little French GIGN ass can  
just suck it. I bet you've never even seen a second of real  
combat in your entire service period."  
  
The taller ex-French commando buckled slightly under  
Ranma's overwhelming glare, he felt his knees weaken a  
little but his pride didn't fall back. "Don't talk to me  
like that you piece of shit! I'll take you on like a rag  
doll!"  
  
Takayama merely watched in the background, sighing to  
himself. "I'll be in my office boys!" Takayama said. He  
walked away leaving the two to themselves.  
  
Ranma nodded, then stepped back gracefully as a  
powerful but uncoordinated punch was swung across by the  
opposing entity.  
  
"Heh! That's a lot of hot air there don't you think?  
Are you sure you can take me on like rag doll?" Ranma  
scoffed. "Come on, gimme your best shot."  
  
Jackson executed a fairly good sweep kick followed by a  
roundhouse kick, swinging and shooting his arms out so he  
could grab Ranma in an offensive body throw. "Don't worry,  
I'm just getting warmed up!"  
  
"Oh?" Ranma started shuffling his feet like a boxer,  
bouncing himself left and right, almost dancing. "You're  
wasting your time with all this fancy footwork, and you  
still haven't touched me."  
  
"Hmph, is that all you are? A boxer?" Jackson charged  
Ranma with a powerful forward punch driving in all his  
strength.  
  
Ranma smirked, pouncing forward like a cheetah, his  
right arm extended and horizontal. His forearm knocked  
Jackson smack dab on the face, making him fall backwards and  
hard on the floor. Ranma immediately hopped backwards right  
next to Jackson's downed body and jabbed his fist at  
Jackson's throat. Jackson croaked loudly, the muscles in his  
diaphragm contracting in shocked surprise by the painful  
blow. He rolled around for a few minutes, croaking in  
agonizing pain.  
  
"Don't be such a drama queen you little baby, I pulled  
that punch so that you wouldn't even get bruised. You should  
really learn how to fight before you even think about being  
my partner. I'm gonna have to toughen you up," Ranma said  
disgustedly.  
  
Jackson eventually got to his feet, his shoulders  
slumping in defeat. There was no way he could get Saotome  
back, at least for now.  
  
"Come on, let's get to the commander," Ranma suggested.  
  
One walked and one limped over swiftly to a large  
office that was in a corner of the floor, adjacent to the  
armory. Inside was a large luxurious office, lined with  
soundproof walls and surrounded by heavily tinted windows.  
  
Takayama gestured the two to a seat in front of his  
desk. "Get over here you two, I hope you're done fuckin'  
around."  
  
"Hai," both replied crisply.  
  
The elder agent nodded, he pulled open a drawer and  
threw out a case folder across the desk for Ranma and  
Jackson.  
  
"I've called you over here for two things, Saotome,"  
Takayama said. He leaned back in his large chair. "First of  
all, I've gotten wind of the case you're working on over at  
Okayama. I'm pretty sure they're giving you their full  
cooperation, no?"  
  
"Yes sir," Ranma replied.  
  
"Good," Takayama nodded. "In your daily report that you  
turned in this afternoon you mentioned that there's evidence  
of firearms circulating around, and there is a plausible  
reason to believe that there is a professional cleaner  
somewhere on the loose. This has raised a few eyebrows over  
in our bureau as well as the Japanese Defense Agency. You  
know who those pricks are right Saotome?"  
  
Ranma didn't understand where he was going with this.  
"I actually don't know too much sir, all I know is that they  
are the only military capable force we have in Japan."  
  
Takayama opened up the folder on the desk and laid out  
each document for both Jackson and Ranma to see. "What  
troubled us is the fact that you found .380 rounds that were  
used on another person to end his life. Also contributing to  
that is the fact that heavy narcotics are involved. The  
rounds that were used in the .380 match that of the ones  
used by some old police precincts in the country. I've  
already contacted the Japanese National Police HQ, I've  
forced the case over to our bureau so now it's a national  
security matter."  
  
"I'm already investigating the case sir, I have a  
homicide detective in Okayama helping me out," Ranma stated.  
But something tugged at his mind. "But why is it a national  
security matter, sir?"  
  
Jackson sat by on the sidelines trying to follow the  
conversation; only problem was he didn't know what the fuck  
they were talking about.  
  
Takayama put his hands up and nodded. "I know, I was  
pretty sure you were already on it. I'm just saying that  
along with this case I need you to carry out a couple of  
night assignments. Some reconnaissance, if you will. We need  
to take care of a few weeds and sneak out a little intel.  
The national security part you don't have to worry about for  
now."  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "What do you want me to do?"  
he asked suspiciously.  
  
"You should be familiar with this." Takayama pulled out  
three documents from a drawer, each profiling a different  
person. "These three goons are heavily affiliated with a  
Yakuza ring controlling several prefectures in the greater  
Tokyo area. We don't have actual hard evidence, but enough  
to know that they're running a heavy load of drugs, more so  
in the past month, and they're making a fucking killing in  
profits off the streets. It extends even to Nerima, in case  
you were wondering."  
  
This definitely got Ranma's attention.  
  
"These two bastards here," Takayama pointed out, "are  
drug lieutenants and info couriers for their crew boss. The  
third guy however is a top notch bloodsucking, son of a  
bitch lawyer. They're all bad guys pretty much, we've caught  
them doin' things they shouldn't be doing, and we need to  
sacrifice them for key reasons. Doing this will trigger some  
activity within this particular Yakuza family and we'll be  
able to investigate further as they operate. JDA Internal  
Affairs and the NSA believe that they're financing some kind  
of weapons operation, possibly firearms, by some unknown  
faction that we have yet to hear from."  
  
Ranma nodded. "Alright, how do you want me to whack  
'em?" His voice showed no questioning or hesitation to his  
own cruel words.  
  
Jackson's eyes bulged slightly, but the other two  
didn't notice.  
  
"I really don't give a shit actually, you can do  
whatever you want. But the trick is, I want you to  
assassinate them in a way so that this Yakuza faction will  
think it's a rival gang, or something like that," Takayama  
shrugged. "And as for the lawyer, he should be carrying a  
suitcase of confidential files that'll help us determine how  
they're financing their dope. So remember to get that."  
  
The pigtailed boy cautiously read over the files.  
"Let's see, both these assholes have outstanding criminal  
records, the lawyer has been suspected numerous times of  
bribery and illegitimate activity..." He nodded and gave  
Takayama a look of approval. "I'd say these guys are  
scumbags. Triangulate where they are and I'll take them out  
tonight."  
  
Jackson's face turned a shade whiter, but the other two  
still didn't notice.  
  
The commander gathered up the documents and stuffed  
them back into the folder, handing them to Ranma. He gave  
him a nod and looked over to Jackson with a small frown.  
"What's wrong, Sergeant? Looks like you've seen a ghost  
son."  
  
"Huh?" Jackson shook himself out of his reverie. "It  
was nothing sir, I was just pondering something that's all."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, let's get out of here shall we?"  
Ranma signaled over. He looked back to his superior. "I need  
to pick up a couple more guns from the armory Takayama-san,  
is that fine with you?"  
  
"Sure," Takayama replied. "Just make sure you sign them  
out."  
  
"Hai."  
  
The pigtailed boy opened the door and proceeded to walk  
out, with Jackson right behind him.  
  
"Oh yeah, Captain, by the way?" Ranma looked behind to  
see his boss with an evil grin. "Make sure you kill them  
real messy. The sloppier the better. Those Yakuza bastards  
can't tell a rifle bullet from a pistol round, so use  
whatever you want."  
  
"Uh..." Ranma stammered a little. "Sure, if you want I  
guess."  
  
Ranma walked out and shut the door behind him, Jackson  
overheard the commander and his face was starting to get a  
little sweaty with anxiety. Ranma didn't really notice, he  
was headed straight for the armory. The armory was as huge  
and impressive as Ranma remembered it from a couple of weeks  
ago when he first came here. Except this time he had to  
answer to a person behind a counter.  
  
"Can I get some help here?" Ranma asked.  
  
A young lady in a light blue officer's uniform looked  
up from the manga she was reading. "What can I help you with  
Captain?"  
  
This seemed a little awkward, it wasn't like going to a  
grocery store and asking for a slice of porterhouse.  
"Anou... I need some guns I guess."  
  
"What is it you would like?" she politely asked.  
  
Ranma looked over to Jackson, who was patiently waiting  
for Ranma. "Yo Sarge, you go first actually."  
  
Jackson nodded and stepped forward. "I'll need an IMI*  
Desert Eagle .50 AE pistol, a Walther PPK chambered in  
7.65mm, an M60 with a box mag conversion, and an MP5SD A2  
fitted with nightvision, infrared, dual laser sighting,  
digital zooming, pressure plate flashlight, and a heat  
sinker on the barrel. All of them with 2 spare clips each,"  
he said boastingly.  
  
  
Ranma sweatdropped heavily in the background, his jaw  
dropped and his face turned into a frown. What the hell was  
up with this fucking cherry? His choice of weaponry was very  
amateurish and unsuited for their particular line of work.  
  
"What kind of ammo would you like outfitted for your  
firearms sir?" the young lady asked.  
  
The sergeant frowned. "What? Just give me rounds that  
fit the calibers of the guns I told you."  
  
"I know that sir, but what kind of ammunition would you  
like chambered in them?" she asked again.  
  
"You know, the regular ones, the ones that shoot out  
with loud noises," Jackson said, confused and frustrated.  
The young girl behind the counter stifled a sigh as well.  
  
Ranma intervened. "Just give him some full metal jacket  
rounds for the 7.62 hog and the strongest hollowpoints you  
have for the rest."  
  
"Hai!" she chirped, relieved. "Are you ready with your  
order sir?"  
  
"I need a Ruger MK-II .22 with an integrated suppressed  
barrel and with tritium night sights. I don't need any spare  
clips." Yeah, he could just get a mod job by Washu. "And  
load it up with aluminum jacketed tipped rounds, something  
that won't cause too much penetration but doesn't deform.  
You have something like that?"  
  
"I'm pretty sure our gunsmiths can accommodate you  
Captain," she said. She tapped on her keyboard and pointed  
both men out. "I'll have these delivered to you immediately  
to your car sirs. Thank you!"  
  
The two headed out and hitched a ride on the elevator,  
going down to the garage. Jackson frowned at Ranma, looking  
down at him. "You picked out a wimpy little pea shooter?  
What the hell for? Do you carry anything else?"  
  
Ranma lifted up part of his shirt to reveal his mundane  
police issue Beretta neatly packed in a tan leather holster  
right at his hip. "We're peace officers, not commandos. I  
don't need a cowboy's arsenal to fuck me up around here.  
Personally I think you went overboard with a couple of those  
guns you picked. Remember we're in Japan, not a war zone.  
What the hell are you going to do with all those extra  
accessories on your SMG* if you can't even use your own  
eyes?"  
*SMG - Submachine Gun  
  
"Shows how little you know," he snottily replied.  
  
"You're gonna regret it, I'm telling you now. And as  
for why I chose a tiny peashooter? Let's just say they're  
really handy in some situations," Ranma replied. He didn't  
want to waste his time bickering with this knucklehead. "By  
the way, you never did answer me. Have you ever experienced  
any real combat yet?"  
  
Jackson hesitated for a moment, and then continued  
walking. "Uh, yeah. Of course! I've seen plenty while I was  
with the GIGN. Way more than even you I bet!"  
  
"Really?" Ranma looked at him incredulously. "I hope  
you're telling me the truth. I don't want you to become a  
liability if you hesitate in the field."  
  
"I'm telling the truth here," Jackson cautiously said.  
He silently gulped; his pride was getting the best of him.  
  
"When Takayama contacts us for the hit, I'll come pick  
you up from wherever the hell you are and we'll go together,  
understood?" Ranma told him.  
  
"I got it maestro."  
  
Ranma sighed as his cocky newfound partner walked to  
his car. "You fuckin' prick," he muttered under his breath.  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 19th, 2001.  
Nekohanten - Nerima District - Tokyo, Japan. 8:02 PM.  
  
"Hmm...so the first battle of the American Revolution  
was in Lexington, and the Civil War ended in 1965 at  
Appomattox, the US entered into Somalia in 1993..."  
  
A blue haired girl was sitting in an empty table in the  
corner of the large Chinese restaurant, doing the homework  
that was assigned to her from the local community college.  
She put the pencil she was holding against her lips, it  
didn't make much sense to her as to why she had to learn the  
history of a country she had no interest in.  
  
"Shampoo, where did you put the ginger?" a male voice  
from inside the kitchen asked.  
  
The beautiful Amazon put her pencil down, brushing a  
hand through her silky lavender hair.  
  
"I think I put the ginger in the far right cabinet at  
the bottom," she replied in almost perfect Japanese.  
  
"Oh, I see where it is. Thanks, Shampoo."  
  
Shampoo scratched a side of her head and closed the  
American history book she was studying for a test that would  
be tomorrow. She pulled out her Japanese grammar textbook  
out of the book bag she had next to her and flipped it open  
to study it next.  
  
A longhaired and well-built Amazon boy walked out of  
the hallway of the kitchen, strolling his way over to where  
Shampoo was. There weren't any people in the restaurant  
tonight, except for one lone person who was eating dinner by  
himself.  
  
Shampoo looked up to see him sitting down across from  
her, he was wiping his hands off with a towel after cooking  
all day.  
  
"Are you ready for these exams tomorrow, Mousse?" she  
asked.  
  
"I need to review some areas myself," he said, smiling.  
It still amazed him how a little bit of educating corrected  
Shampoo's ridiculously impaired spoken Japanese.  
  
After Ranma had disappeared four years ago off the face  
of the planet, with his parents not telling anyone anything,  
Shampoo had no fiancee to chase after or rival acquaintances  
to quarrel with. The three years that Ranma had spent  
overseas for college was excused by their elder Amazon  
matriarch Cologne, she believed it was important that Ranma  
received a good education to train his mind and not just his  
body. He didn't need any distractions to throw him off.  
  
So therefore Mousse and Shampoo were perplexed as to  
what they were supposed to do. Shampoo had no one to chase  
and Mousse had no one to fight off. Oh sure, the others in  
Nerima had the same problem, but they at least were going to  
school or doing something for their future.  
  
But in reality, the truth was that Shampoo and her  
grandmother simply could not afford to travel all the way to  
the US in a fruitless attempt to search for someone in a  
land that spans over 3000 miles wide. Cologne had plenty of  
access to money from the Amazon homeland, but it would  
probably have been wasted.  
  
Thus the reason for Shampoo and Mousse's enrollment in  
a community college. They weren't capable of applying to a  
high-end college such as Tokyo U, they had to study  
rigorously for the community college alone, and they left it  
at that. Cologne had no problem whatsoever to either of them  
expanding their intelligence, she was already busy herself  
running the Cat Cafe, handling Nyuuchiezuu matters from  
overseas, and giving a moderate effort in trying to find  
Ranma, wherever the hell he was. Because Mousse and Shampoo  
had to run the Nekohanten while going to school, their  
schedule was compromised, and it forced them to take years  
of college. But in the past couple of weeks, now that Ranma  
was back in Japan, Cologne was spending a lot of time to  
herself trying to find any info that she could about Ranma.  
  
But this was none of their concern, at least for now,  
Shampoo and Mousse had to study.  
  
"So, how far did you get?" Mousse asked.  
  
"Not much, but I think I got the history down and I  
have to study just a bit of the grammar," she said. It took  
some effort to talk well, and most of the times she could  
have a normal conversation with a native Japanese person  
without being mocked. However, sometimes when she was  
excited or panicked her grammar broke and she reverted back  
to her old clumsy style of talking in the third person.  
  
"So are you confident about everything?" he asked. He  
took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes while trying  
to read the history book Shampoo was using before.  
  
"I guess," she lamely replied. She blew away a stray  
strand of hair that was on her lips.  
  
Mousse looked a little concerned, Shampoo seemed to be  
more tense than usual, even if there was a test the next  
day. "Is there something wrong? You look uneasy about  
something."  
  
The usually perky Amazon was slouching a little; she  
blinked a couple of times, the strain on her eyes apparent.  
"I was thinking about Ranma, and about all of us," she  
replied to Mousse. The blind eyed Amazon boy had stopped  
pestering her a long time ago, they actually became even  
closer as friends while Ranma was gone, although not much  
had progressed on the romantic side.  
  
"What were you thinking about?" Mousse asked in  
Chinese. These sorts of conversations required some complex  
talking that they just couldn't achieve with their Japanese.  
  
Shampoo looked straight at him with a serious face,  
leaning against the table with her arms crossed in front of  
her bosom. "I was thinking about the incident at Ukyo's  
restaurant with Ranma challenging great grandmother like  
that," she said in Chinese. "I just can't shrug off this odd  
feeling that something bad will happen as time goes by. Just  
look at him, my perspective of him has changed a lot; I  
never thought he would go against her like he did.  
Threatening to kill someone so brutally is something the  
Ranma I know would never do."  
  
Mousse frowned; obviously she had also pondered the  
situation at hand as he had. Ranma's violent and vicious  
behavior towards Ryoga and Cologne were something completely  
out of this world. "Your grandmother has been fueled by  
either rage or vengeance since that day, she's been trying  
to get information about his life overseas ever since."  
Cologne was either trying to find out a way to kill Ranma or  
get him to marry Shampoo by analyzing him. Either conclusion  
was something Mousse did not want to happen.  
  
"Her interest in him is growing again," she simply  
said. "Weird how things always seem to turn back into the  
way it was."  
  
"Still... for a guy like him coming back after years  
and years... he probably has a bitter feeling towards us,"  
Mousse pondered.  
  
Shampoo snapped her finger. "I know! Let's set up a  
welcome party for him! Something to make him feel welcome! I  
bet he'd love it."  
  
"Eh? What?" Mousse said hesitantly. "I don't know  
Shampoo-"  
  
"Don't worry about it you stupid duck, I'll find out a  
way," Shampoo scolded.  
  
Trying to conceal the frown on his face, Mousse walked  
back in the kitchen nodding his head in defeat.  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 20th, 2001.  
Daihatsu Corp. Factory Plant #6 - Yokohama, Japan. 12:06 AM.  
  
Gear cogs and broken piles of steel pipes littered the  
floors of the abandoned warehouse, reflecting what once used  
to be an area where people flourished in their work areas,  
creating motors and other automotive mechanical parts for  
cars and bikes. But with different economic fluctuations and  
changing times, this old Daihatsu factory faced it's end  
years ago, with the owners unable to salvage anything.  
  
It was a dark and abandoned area near the harbor and  
kilometers away from the closest town. Perfect for secret  
activities.  
  
"Shinji, I think that's the box. Go check it."  
  
Two men followed by a small horde of others navigated  
their way around the trenches of steel, they all wore  
regular street clothes, and all were regular thugs, the kind  
you see on the streets.  
  
The two men were higher level Yakuza operatives, the  
family they worked for entrusted them to do tasks that  
required high risk.  
  
"I found it Heero. Give me that crowbar."  
  
Heero ordered his men to stay put, while he went to  
Shinji to hand him the crowbar. "This is it, it's our  
payday."  
  
The young men cracked open a large and dusty wooden box  
that was placed underneath a pile of rubble, it was  
specifically placed to make it look as if it were from the  
factory. The top splintered, allowing a cleverly built in  
seal to be broken apart, allowing the sides of the box to  
neatly fall back in place.  
  
"Hol~y shit," Shinji said, breaking out a huge grin.  
  
"That bitch actually delivered," Heero added.  
  
The other men were giving their own "oohs" and "ahhs"  
as well, it was an impressive cache of weapons that was  
stored in there. A bundle of brand new M16A2 assault rifles,  
five used M60 machine guns that were abandoned by the US  
Army, and twenty HK USP .45 Tactical pistols, which were on  
top of boxes and boxes filled with ammunition.  
  
The two Yakuza operatives gawked in awe at the awesome  
firepower, an impulsive urge to use them growing within  
them. But before that, they had an important phone call to  
make first.  
  
After fumbling for a couple of minutes for a phone  
number, the call finally went through, handled by Heero.  
  
YAWN. "Hai, hai. Who is it?" a tired voice asked.  
  
"Daihatsu corporation, volatile materials division."  
  
She immediately woke up on the other end after hearing  
the code words. "Yes, this is JDA Agent Nabiki Tendo."  
  
"We've received the shipment, it looks like everything  
is in place."  
  
"Ah," Nabiki smiled, pleased with herself. "You need  
instructions for the rest of the shipments, yes?"  
  
"Yes we do," Heero replied. "How many more are there?"  
  
"Two. One again tomorrow, and the other one I have yet  
to set up."  
  
"How big is tomorrow's shipment, and where do I pick it  
up?" Heero asked.  
  
Nabiki chuckled, "Same time, same exact place. Oh, and  
you'll need a lot more men than what you probably brought  
now, since the shipment will be around ten times bigger than  
what you received tonight."  
  
An evil smile crept onto Heero's face. "I'll be looking  
forward to it Tendo. As soon as tomorrow's shipment is in,  
we'll deliver your full payment as the contract promised.  
Good night."  
  
"Oyasumi."  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 20th, 2001.  
Some crack lab house - Juuban District - Tokyo, Japan. 12:07 AM.  
  
Tonki and Ghiro walked out of their little crack  
factory in one of the many slums in Tokyo, it was a sleazy  
place turned bad because of drug dealers liked them. They  
carried their duffel bags full of heroin and cocaine in  
small pouches.  
  
Once again tonight they were determined to sell it all  
off, making a killing off of teenagers and young men and  
women alike at popular hangouts and night clubs.  
  
These two were the roots of the many chains their  
Yakuza family controlled, it was a large source of monetary  
funds, gained quick and easy. They kept two percent of  
whatever they made every night, the rest were turned up the  
hierarchy of the Yakuza family they worked for. Being the  
prime drug lieutenants in the area, the ones who knew them  
feared them, for they were ruthless and merciless to whoever  
disturbed them. That included another Yakuza faction which  
was nearby, they constantly tangled with each other, but  
neither side really went in for the real kill. Their crew  
boss had warned them repeatedly that one day they would  
probably have to fight to the death, but these two arrogant  
young men didn't really care.  
  
Ghiro pulled out the keys to the 1995 BMW 740iL that  
was parked on the curb, it was bought from the blood money  
him and his partner conjured up from unsuspecting college  
and high school students.  
  
Tonki settled himself into the soft leather passenger  
seat of the Beamer, closing the door with him. "I sure could  
use a blowjob after we're done with tonight."  
  
"We'll stop by one of those cat houses before we head  
back home then," Ghiro snorted, climbing into the driver's  
seat.  
  
As soon as he started up the engine, he snapped in his  
seatbelt, and reached for the steering column to turn on the  
headlights.  
  
When he saw the light brightly illuminating the cluster  
of bushes in front of him, the last thing he saw was the  
glass of his windshield cracking at his chest level.  
  
A barrage of silent gunfire violently smashed into the  
old BMW, the trajectory of the bullets were mainly aimed at  
the windshield where the passengers were.  
  
Ghiro and Tonki's bodies danced wildly in the seats as  
their bodies were repeatedly riddled by high velocity  
firepower, the seatbelts keeping them in place. The whizzing  
of bullets at supersonic speeds echoed eerily in the misty  
night, several rounds which were randomly sprayed exploded  
on the concrete walls of the adjacent buildings. Most were  
projected on the car itself, making an awful sound of  
twisting and tinkering metal and shattering glass.  
  
After ten seconds of full on automatic fire, a small  
red laser dot illuminated itself on Ghiro's forehead, a  
moment after a single round broke out, smashing in a large  
one inch entry cavity and blowing out a large mass of brain  
matter and blood into the back seats and windows.  
  
The same happened for Tonki's corpse.  
  
The two cadavers bled freely inside of the vehicle, for  
there was no brain activity in their heads to keep their  
muscles from contracting around the bullet wounds. Tonki's  
head shot wasn't as precise as Ghiro's, the bullet hit  
between his eyes causing his split apart nose to run blood  
like a faucet due to a torn nasal cavity.  
  
A garbled, tone shifting, alarm tried to ring itself  
out of the mangled BMW, which was now smoking with riddled  
bullet holes. Another short burst of automatic fire from  
nearby put the car out of its misery, putting additional  
scars on the body panel and popping the tires with a high  
pitched whiz, while blowing out the headlights at the same  
time.  
  
---------------  
  
April 20th, 2001.  
Behind some bushes near a crackhouse - Tokyo, Japan. 12:03 AM.  
  
"Stop whining and get your ass over here!" Ranma  
hissed, irritated by his partner's nagging.  
  
"Come on Captain, the Commander must've been kidding,  
we're not really going to shoot these guys to death are we?"  
Jackson said nervously. He silently closed one of the  
passenger doors of Ranma's Mitsubishi wagon and slowly  
crawled on all fours towards Ranma, who was trying to cut  
through a small field of vision in the bushes with what  
seemed to be a glowing object in his hands.  
  
Ranma already had a little mat of carpet for him to sit  
on while hiding behind the bushes in the dark night. His HK  
G36 assault rifle was leaning against his back with a sling,  
attached with a laser sighting module and a large suppressor  
(a silencer) canister attached at the muzzle.  
  
Jackson was shivering slightly, he tried to convince  
Ranma that it was really the cold weather that made him  
jumpy but it was actually the anxiety in his chest. Jackson  
had his overly large sidearm, the Desert Eagle .50AE, and  
nothing more. He didn't really believe that they were going  
to massacre someone.  
  
"They should be out here any second, along with their  
products," Ranma said, shaking out his hand after using a  
bit of ki to cut through the bush. He pulled out a small  
mesh net from a knapsack he had, he hooked it onto the side  
of the gun where the case ejection port was, creating a  
little makeshift sack that hung on the right side of the  
rifle.  
  
Jackson was curious as to what the hell it was, but  
didn't bother to ask.  
  
Satisfied with the clear line of fire he created, Ranma  
took his G36 and readjusted his sitting position. With his  
right leg tucked under in an Indian sitting position and his  
left leg bent up perpendicular to his right as a bipod  
allowing him to sit on his ass comfortably, Ranma balanced  
the rifle using his left elbow on his left knee.  
  
It was a standard field sniper stance, one that was  
also suitable for precision mid range rifle attacks or quick  
acquisition short range assault rifle attacks. It was handy  
for situations where there was nothing to lean or rest the  
rifle on.  
  
Since he needed a lot of maneuverability, Ranma held  
the rifle conventionally with one hand on the trigger and  
another on the fore stock.  
  
"For crying out loud, I can't believe the only thing  
you brought was a pistol, Jackson. What kind of special  
forces guy are you?" Ranma asked, half irritated, half  
joking.  
  
Jackson fidgeted sheepishly. "I didn't think we were  
going to take out a fucking brigade. How was I supposed to  
know you'd bring an assault rifle?"  
  
Ranma simply shook his head and breathed an exasperated  
sigh. "Well, make sure it doesn't happen again. Good fortune  
comes to those who are most prepared," he said sagely.  
  
Jackson frowned. "What the hell does that have to do  
with anything? And what's with the fishnet on the side of  
your rifle? It looks like a nut sack."  
  
"Shut up, they're here," Ranma pointed out, ignoring  
what Jackson said to him.  
  
The two NSA agents saw in their shrouded vision behind  
the bushes two men emerging from a shoddy looking building  
complex, one that was slightly isolated from the other  
complexes on the peculiarly empty street.  
  
"That's them all right," Ranma said. He remembered  
those two faces from the photos Takayama gave. "We'll make  
it look like an ambush."  
  
He readjusted his grip one last time and lifted the  
rifle to aim, the shrubbery kept both men well camouflaged  
and virtually impossible to see. Ranma's breathing gradually  
slowed after a few deep breaths, his fingers and his eyes  
completely still and never twitching.  
  
Jackson felt himself getting excited, the blood was  
rushing through his ears and to his head and he could feel  
the adrenaline rising in his body. He'd done countless  
training sessions and scenarios for the French government,  
but this was the first time he was in a real situation.  
  
The two men from across the deserted street finally  
entered their fancy European sports sedan, slamming the  
doors shut. The driver on the right side seemed to fiddle  
with his keys, having trouble turning the engine on. Right  
then the headlights flooded the bushes.  
  
As soon as the bright bluish white xenon lights came in  
view Ranma gently held his breath, squinting his left eye  
slightly from the bright light and looking through the  
integrated anti-glare 1.5x zoom optical sight of the G36  
rifle with his right. With a positive squeeze to the trigger  
the assault rifle shot off full blast, the heavily modified  
gun from Washu gave nary a recoil, the silencer muffled  
every controlled explosion to a refined whistling of air  
while at the same time hiding every trace of a muzzle flash.  
The aforementioned mesh net that was neatly hooked to the  
right side of the rifle safely caught every spent casing of  
ammunition that was ejected from the gun, emitting a light  
clank-clank-clank at a furious 700 RPM pace.  
  
In the cold night, the only evidence of the firearm  
being discharged were the long and continuous puffs of steam  
that was precipitated from the hot air being discharged from  
both the muzzle and the special gas exhaust of this  
particular rifle.  
  
Ranma concentrated an even spray of hot lead on the car  
and the adjacent building, making sure it looked like a  
frenzied massacre. After nearly ten full seconds of  
automatic rifle fire he stopped. Thanks to the special  
magazine given by Washu, Ranma had shot off 116 rounds from  
a magazine designed for only 30.  
  
The pigtailed boy didn't lower his aim, however.  
Instead he clipped a lever near the trigger with his thumb  
switching the action to semi-auto fire, and he activated a  
pressure plate at the top of the rifle handle near the  
optical sights, activating a hi-power laser.  
  
A red dot brightly illuminated the forehead of the dead  
and bloody driver, without a second thought Ranma squeezed  
the trigger. He quickly shifted a couple degrees right and  
shot the passenger in the head, although not as clean as the  
first one.  
  
Jackson was crouched next Ranma with his teeth clenched  
and his fists tightly packed near his chest. He watched in  
horror and fascination as the man next to him tore apart two  
people who were absolute strangers to them, and he was doing  
so in a manner that showed no remorse.  
  
Ranma quickly stood up and jumped over the bushes.  
"Come on Jackson, get over here!"  
  
Jackson numbly jumped up and followed Ranma who was  
dashing his way over to his car with his rifle in low-ready  
tactical position. By instinct Jackson took out his own  
sidearm, trailing Ranma close by with his pistol raised in a  
Weaver* stance. What he saw next made his stomach leap to  
his throat.  
  
Carnage. It was carnage neatly packed in a steel can.  
Blood here, blood there. Chunks of unknown red and white  
stuck on the upholstery.  
  
It was too much.  
  
"Oh fuck! Oh man!" Jackson panicked.  
  
"Shut the hell up, we're not done yet!" Ranma yelled at  
him. They were short on time, they had to do this and do it  
right before anybody noticed either of them.  
  
Jackson breathed heavily and cringed his eyes. "Oh,  
fucking shit man! This is sick!"  
  
Ranma smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't act  
like you've never seen a dead body before!" He pointed to  
Jackson's huge pistol. "Since you have a big bore handgun, I  
want you to shoot them close range, wherever you want. We  
need to make it messier and make it look as if there were  
many people here."  
  
"Wha-?" he looked up at Ranma in confusion and  
frustration. "I ain't fucking doin' it man! No way!"  
  
His suspicions were answered; Ranma narrowed his eyes  
giving Jackson a dangerous look. He slung his own rifle  
across his back, the net full of casings clanking along with  
it. Ranma wordlessly snatched Jackson's large .50 caliber  
pistol out of his hand and aimed it through an open window  
in the car. He brutally shot both corpses repeatedly until  
the seven round magazine of the pistol was depleted. This  
time with no silencer, the gunshots rang out loudly in the  
night. Jackson watched in awe and frozen terror as he  
watched the chunks fly.  
  
As soon as he was done Ranma held his rifle and took  
off the net full of spent cases. He opened it up and ran  
around dropping the cases everywhere and even threw some  
near potential ambush spots. He pocketed the net and clicked  
the slide of the Desert Eagle back into place with the empty  
magazine and shoved the gun back into Jackson's hand, giving  
him a mad and burning look in his eyes.  
  
"I..."  
  
"Shut up, Jackson. Just shut it. We don't have much  
time, the people around here are gonna flock here like  
locusts. We still have one more of these fuckers to kill.  
And don't you ever lie to me again. MOVE your ass."  
  
Jackson meekly responded. "Yes, sir."  
  
---------------  
  
April 20th, 2001.  
Keila's Bar and Karaoke - Bokutou District - Tokyo, Japan. 12:45 AM.  
  
A sleazy, middle-aged man stumbled out of the double-  
decker doors of the popular bar and karaoke which was  
located on a street full of other similar bars. They were  
all thinly disguised whorehouses, attracting salary men and  
other easily impressionable young and wealthy men who wanted  
to satisfy their perverted desires by taking advantage of  
underage and exploited girls. The use of minors in sexual  
acts was still a problem in some areas of Japan, despite the  
Clinton Administration's efforts to pressure the Japanese  
government to fix it in the past.  
  
The mid aged man was a lawyer, a bloodsucker for the  
Yakuza family he worked for, with his expensive black suit  
and his Florsheim Italian shoes. He was currently busy  
zipping his pants back up after having sex with a young 16  
year old girl who was trying to earn money to pay for her  
crack addiction. His liberal use of alcohol impaired his  
vision and his ability to walk to his car which was parked  
on the curb.  
  
The street was lit with signs from the buildings  
advertising drinks and entertainment. There were no other  
people walking around, it was far too early in the night to  
go home already.  
  
  
From an alley a couple meters away, two men peeked  
around a corner to see their target coming towards them.  
They were lucky to have good intel to be able to find this  
guy at the right time.  
  
"Okay, Jackson. You stay here and cover me while I'll  
go over there and shoot him. I want you to stay put, and  
don't do anything unless you think it's absolutely  
necessary. Is that understood?" Ranma said.  
  
Jackson nodded. "Yes, sir." It was his chance to redeem  
himself, to make him look like a professional when the  
situation came for it. He no longer doubted Saotome's skill  
and experience. The pigtailed boy who was nearly the same  
age as him put chills in his spine.  
  
Ranma had a gray sweater with a hood on, he slowly  
jogged out of the alley towards the target with both his  
hands in the large sweater pocket. He had his new Ruger .22  
in his right hand, along with a roll of duct tape in his  
left.  
  
The drunken lawyer didn't really notice Ranma jogging  
towards him, he just assumed it was some idiot getting some  
exercise in the middle of the night. Just as Ranma passed  
the lawyer he stopped and turned around. Ranma pulled out  
his silenced pistol and walked behind the lawyer with the  
gun raised.  
  
Just as the lawyer pulled out his car keys, Ranma  
squeezed the light single action only trigger aiming behind  
the left ear at point blank range. The silenced .22 emitted  
a solid and audible ka-thunk sound (it wasn't modded by  
Washu yet), along with a light cloud of smoke that rushed  
its way out of the ejection port and muzzle. The sound of  
the ejected casing falling on the ground finished off this  
neat and tidy execution.  
  
The lawyer trembled abruptly with only the sound of  
"Erk" escaping his lips. His body fell dead on the ground,  
Ranma could see an abnormal pea sized dent in the forehead  
which signified that the low power .22 round had not  
penetrated out but instead bounced around in the cranium,  
making it just as lethal as a big bore round. The entry  
wound was small and precise, the surrounding hair and flesh  
around the ear was sizzled by the instantaneous muzzle flash  
of Ranma's pistol.  
  
Ranma pocketed his gun and pulled out the duct tape  
without any delay as soon as he gave off the shot. The entry  
wound although small was still in the head, and it was  
pumping out blood already as soon as the body had hit the  
ground. Ranma hastily sealed up the small hole the best he  
could with a small patch of duct tape, he needed to drag the  
body around the alley to where Jackson was.  
  
This time Jackson ran up to Ranma and helped him drag  
the body. "Jesus, you gotta tell me some stories about your  
previous life man."  
  
"Don't worry about the body, you go get the keys on the  
ground and try to find this guy's car. If you find a  
briefcase or a bag or anything bring it," Ranma said.  
  
Jackson obeyed him and picked up the keys. He pressed  
the unlock and lock buttons repeatedly on the remote fob to  
see which car it belonged to. He saw a white Nissan Fairlady  
with blinking lights near the alley he was hiding in.  
  
Ranma in the meanwhile had already dragged the body  
into the alley. He ripped off the duct tape from the man's  
ear letting the blood flow all over the floor. Ranma took  
out a switchblade from one of his pockets and flipped it  
open. He grimaced slightly for what he was going to do next.  
  
He took a deep breath, then violently grabbed a hold of  
the corpse and slit the throat wide open from ear to ear.  
Next he eviscerated the stomach, a horrible stench churned  
its way out causing Ranma to wince. He took out two steel  
stakes from a small pouch that Takayama had given him along  
with a sledgehammer. With each hand Ranma drove a stake  
right through the wrists against the brick alley wall,  
making a crude crucifix. The Commander had specifically told  
him to do this to rile up the proper emotions in the Yakuza  
they were targeting.  
  
Ranma backed off from the cadaver before the pool of  
blood touched his shoes. He pulled out his thermos and  
washed off the red stained switchblade with warm water.  
  
Jackson came back running at Ranma with a briefcase. "I  
got it, Captain. Are you done here...Holy shit!"  
  
"Shut up, Sergeant. Let's get out of here," Ranma  
signaled. He noticed the briefcase. "Did you remember to not  
leave any fingerprints?"  
  
"Yeah," he said, gulping. He felt his stomach getting  
weaker again.  
  
"Good, we're done then. Let's get outta here."  
  
Jackson watched as he wondered at how his newfound  
partner could be so coldhearted and callous.  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
April 20th, 2001.  
Harako Street Park - Bokutou District - Tokyo, Japan. 12:59 AM.  
  
"License and registration please."  
  
"Gimme a break, girl. I didn't do nothing!" whined the  
coy looking man in the driver's seat.  
  
Officer Miyuki Kobayakawa wouldn't take any of it.  
"Please, sir. You were driving recklessly even though  
there's no one around. You deserve this ticket."  
  
"Give 'em hell, Miyuki!" laughed her partner Natsumi  
Tsujimoto. She was munching on a bagel sandwich in their  
patrol car.  
  
There were five men packed in the compact Toyota  
Progres sedan, all in expensive looking suits and expensive  
accessories. They weren't expecting any police officers to  
be on duty around this area. Apparently they were wrong.  
  
But it wasn't like these officers were too much trouble  
anyway. Just one lousy ticket and they would be home free.  
  
"Come on honey, just let us go and we can all have a  
peaceful night," one of the passengers said. He sneered at  
the attractive policewoman.  
  
From the other side of the street near the  
intersection, one pigtailed man and another guy who seemed  
to be sweating bullets waited at the red light in their  
Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4.  
  
"It's a long night, I gotta get some sleep."  
  
Jackson seemed to be thinking hard, for the first time  
in years he started to regret ever entering a profession  
that involved killing others. While the greater benefit was  
to help and save people, it appeared that killing was an  
unavoidable aspect of the job.  
  
Ranma took a look at his partner, who seemed to be  
sulking to himself in his eyes. Ranma gave him a pat on the  
shoulder. "Don't worry about tonight Jackson, it happens to  
everybody. I'm sorry I got mad at you. It wasn't because you  
hesitated in the field, it was the fact that you lied to me  
about your experience. If you had told me the truth, I  
could've taught you some valuable lessons tonight. So just  
forget about it for now and let's head home, ok?" Ranma  
tried offering words of comfort.  
  
His partner gave a weak smile and nodded. Jackson  
finally gave in to the fact that this guy next to him, who  
was the same age, was a much better operative than he was.  
There was no substitution for real experience. "Thanks,  
Captain. I'm sorry I was a jerk to you when we first met. I  
guess I made the wrong impression."  
  
"That's fine," Ranma said smiling.  
  
Jackson nodded again and looked up, seeing the traffic  
cop from across the street writing up a ticket. He peered  
his eyes to get a closer look at the driver who was getting  
the ticket. "Oh shit. I know who that is!"  
  
"Eh? What?" Ranma said puzzled. He looked up and the  
light was green, but he paused to hear what Jackson had to  
say.  
  
"That driver!" Jackson pointed out. "I recognize him  
from our case file! He's one of the known accomplices for  
the Yakuza faction we're tracking. His picture was in the  
supplement file Commander Takayama gave us!"  
  
"You're shittin' me," Ranma said, his eyebrow raised.  
He reached back in the backseat and opened up a manila  
folder and scanned through some pictures. "Well I'll be  
damned, you're right," he said, amazed. He closed the folder  
and threw it back. "Let's go check it out."  
  
Ranma turned on the internal code 3 lights in his  
vehicle and drove over to the small patrol car across the  
intersection. He blipped the siren a couple of times to get  
the attention of the two patrolwomen.  
  
Natsumi stepped out of her car with a suspicious frown  
on her face. "What the hell is this?" she mumbled.  
  
"Oh great, you pathetic pigs had to call in backup for  
this?" scoffed the driver in the Toyota. His friends laughed  
along with him.  
  
Miyuki walked towards the station wagon, puzzled as to  
who these two men were. "May I ask who you two gentlemen  
are? This is official police business."  
  
Ranma stepped out of the car, tugging his sweater down  
so that his strongside holster wouldn't show. "Good evening  
officers. I'm Detective Sakamichi and that's Detective Li  
over there," Ranma lied. "We're HQ officers, we just wanted  
to help you two out."  
  
"We don't need any help, this is a routine traffic  
stop," Natsumi said. She didn't like these two. Her danger  
sense was going rampant.  
  
"We're not here to intrude, we'd just like to ask those  
men in the car a couple of questions, that's all," Ranma  
tried delegating. Years of living with Akane in the past  
gave Ranma an uncanny sense for detecting angry women.  
  
The feisty short haired brunette was about to argue  
with them some more but her partner grabbed her shoulder.  
"Let's just let them do what they want to do," Miyuki  
whispered. "It's still our collar, if they try to arrest  
them we'll take control, okay?"  
  
Natsumi calmed down and nodded her head. She'd let them  
go for now. If they tried anything funny...  
  
Ranma walked over to the driver's side of the Toyota,  
looking inside through the window. "How are you guys doing,  
having fun tonight, hmm?"  
  
"What's it to you?" the driver said arrogantly.  
  
Ranma took a good look at every passenger. They  
appeared to be in their late twenties, maybe mid twenties,  
all with clothes that were far too expensive for some of  
them to be wearing. Armani and $2400 Bally Italian leather  
jackets were something that definitely caught his eye, along  
with the expensive Rolexes.  
  
Natsumi narrowed her eyes against Ranma, he was  
actually pretty cute for a guy around here but he didn't  
look like a detective at all. Wearing a hooded sweater made  
him all the more suspicious. "Do you think these guys are  
really detectives, Miyuki?" Natsumi whispered.  
  
"I don't know," she replied. "They seem to have an  
unmarked detective's car, but other than that..."  
  
"I'll be right back, gentlemen," Ranma said. He walked  
back to his wagon. "Jackson, I want you to take care of  
those guys up there, I need to use the radio real quick."  
  
"Sure," Jackson said. He walked over to the driver,  
Miyuki and Natsumi were right behind him.  
  
Ranma sat back in his car and activated the secured  
satellite phone inside the car. He called the Commander.  
  
BEEP. BEEP. "Moshi, moshi?" A tired voice answered.  
  
Ranma hoped the Commander wouldn't be too upset about  
him calling in the middle of the night. "Commander? This is  
Saotome."  
  
"Oh, Saotome," Takayama answered. He shook himself out  
of his sleepiness. "Are you calling about the assignment?"  
  
"Yes sir, we've already accomplished our primary  
objectives. We've encountered another situation though. I've  
located another small group of drug couriers at the  
northeast corner of Harako Street Park. Jackson recognized  
one of the men as Ryu Nagoro. He's one of the known drug  
lieutenants in Tokyo from the file you gave us."  
  
"That's good. Try to arrest them if you can, but I  
grant you to use force if necessary."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
CLICK.  
  
In the meanwhile, unbeknownst to Ranma, Jackson had  
asked Ryu to open up his trunk to search the vehicle. Ryu  
nervously agreed, he signaled a couple of his thugs to get  
out of the car with him. The three law enforcement personnel  
and Ryu went to the back of the car. Ryu popped the trunk  
open with his key revealing the contents of what was inside.  
  
The three officers were packed close together in awe of  
what was inside. There was more crack, weed, and heroin than  
they had ever seen in their entire lives.  
  
Ryu backed away and surrounded the three officers along  
with two of his friends, lurking behind them.  
  
At that moment Ranma had clicked off the phone, and he  
looked up. His eyes widened as he saw the three thugs  
closing up on the three unsuspecting cops.  
  
It was something he learned from working in the LAPD.  
It was the most fatal move any cop could make, the kind of  
mistake inexperienced or careless cops made.  
  
'Oh fuck, you fucking idiot, Jackson!' Ranma thought in  
his head. "Get the hell out of the kill zone, Jackson!!"  
screamed Ranma. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA THERE!!!"  
  
One of Ryu's thugs clocked Natsumi right in the back of  
the head, causing her head to slam into the trunk lid. She  
screeched in pain but wasn't knocked out.  
  
Ryu tackled Jackson to the ground from behind, catching  
him completely by surprise and letting him get beaten  
senseless.  
  
Miyuki was given a chop at the neck, she groaned loudly  
in pain and fell back, letting her attacker get another  
punch across the cheek.  
  
Ranma bolted out of the car and sprinted over to where  
Natsumi was. She was being pummeled badly across the face  
and in the gut by the merciless thug. Ranma gave a strong  
power house punch to the side of his ribs, probably  
shattering all of them and forcing him to let go of the  
chokehold he was putting on Natsumi. He gave a quick kick to  
one of his knee caps, cracking it, and grabbed his head and  
smashed it against one of the pillars of the Toyota. The  
harsh contact from the nose onto the steel drove the nose to  
the back of his head.  
  
Ranma swiftly made a roundhouse kick to catch Miyuki's  
attacker in the back of the neck, the kick was so agile and  
precise it jolted the thug's spine without breaking it,  
rendering him motionless.  
  
Next was Ryu, who stopped beating on Jackson and stood  
up to fly a punch at Ranma. Ranma merely avoided the punch  
and in one swift fluid motion gave a backhanding punch to  
the center of his ribs and the neck, causing Ryu to moan in  
agonizing and disabling pain. Ranma remembered that he had  
to get these guys in jail instead of exterminating them.  
  
In all this excitement, the remaining backseat thug was  
cowering in fear while the front seat passenger struggled to  
pull out his smuggled S&W Model 19 4-inch .357 Magnum  
revolver. He tried to aim it towards Ranma from the front  
seat through the back window. With one pull of the trigger  
there was a loud bang, startling Ranma and the two female  
officers. Jackson was on the floor moaning in pain with his  
head slightly disoriented.  
  
The single shot missed Ranma, instead it put a large  
crack through the window. Ranma immediately pulled out his  
Beretta from his holster and leaped sideways, getting a  
clear view of the shooter. He had the gun in a standard  
double hand dynamic grip and shot away ten rounds through  
the window and door of the front passenger side of the  
Toyota, killing the gunman. The remaining thug saw the thick  
coat of blood on the windshield from his friend's bullet  
wound in the back of the head, which punched out through the  
temple. He hastily grabbed the dropped revolver from the  
dead corpse in front of him and jumped out the car, catching  
Ranma by surprise. The thug shot off two rounds of .357  
Magnum into Ranma's chest, catching him square in the  
middle.  
  
Ranma's body skidded back from the two powerful shots,  
groaning loudly in pain. He recovered immediately and saw  
his shooter running away frantically. Ranma raised his gun  
and saw the remaining bastard in his sights.  
  
He smoothly squeezed the (now) single action trigger of  
his Beretta, shooting off four rounds. Three rounds hit the  
suspect's back, creating a dusty pop-pop-pop in the back of  
his jacket and one round to the head, creating a fine mist  
of red in the bright lit street.  
  
Ranma lowered his weapon and with his left hand he  
painfully scratched at the smoking bullet holes in his  
chest. He pulled out two deformed slugs that were stopped by  
the ballistic vest he was wearing underneath.  
  
"Put the fucking gun down now, copper!" yelled a voice  
from behind.  
  
He slowly shifted his body slightly and turned his  
head. Ryu wasn't knocked out completely, he now had Officer  
Miyuki Kobayakawa held by the waste along with a small .38  
revolver to her head. Ranma simply gave a sigh.  
  
"I'll fucking kill her! I swear! You put that gun down  
and I walk, or else this fine piece of ass gets it!" Ryu  
madly screamed. His dirty hand snaked up her torso and he  
violently grabbed her breasts and played with them. Miyuki  
let a cry of anguish, tears were streaming down her cheeks.  
Her partner and best friend Natsumi stood helplessly at the  
side, not knowing what to do.  
  
"Do as I say asshole! Put your fucking gun down! I'll  
fucking kill-"  
  
Like the splatter of a watermelon falling from a high  
rise building the left hemisphere of Ryu's head exploded out  
in a messy fashion, a large flaccid patch of scalp hung on  
the side, chunks of red and white flew across the pavement.  
Miyuki immediately dodged to the side before she even knew  
what was happening, knowing only that this was the most  
instinctive thing to do in this moment of crisis.  
  
Ranma immediately shot three rounds center mass into  
Ryu's chest out of pure reflexive instinct as the corpse  
fell lifelessly to the ground. The largely exposed head  
literally flooded out blood and bodily fluids which flowed  
down to the curb.  
  
From behind the Toyota Ranma saw Jackson getting up, a  
serious look in his eyes. He saw in his right hand his  
Desert Eagle sidearm, the muzzle was still smoking. Jackson  
helped Miyuki to the sidewalk where Natsumi was to avoid  
getting blood on their shoes.  
  
Ranma walked over to the trio, he could hear several  
sirens in the background rushing to get here. "Are you two  
gals okay?" Ranma asked. They were both shaken up and badly  
bruised in some places, but they looked to be in stable  
condition.  
  
Miyuki looked up at Ranma with her big brown eyes while  
hugging her friend Natsumi. She started crying again. "You  
two have saved our lives. H-how can we ever repay you Mr-?"  
she said shakily. She went up to hug Ranma around his neck  
for a bit of comfort. Natsumi stood up and hugged her  
friend, crying as well. The two were long time experienced  
police officers. But what happened tonight blew their  
perception of police work out the door. They were  
traumatized beyond repair.  
  
"Shh...shh...it's okay," Ranma comforted them. "Don't  
worry, you're both still alive. I'll have an ambulance help  
both of you. And my name is Detective Sakamichi."  
  
Ranma looked up to Jackson who was still frozen with a  
pained look on his face. He too appeared to have been  
crying. He walked over and gave him a strong hold on the  
shoulder. "You did good tonight Jackson. You saved that  
woman's life and pretty much saved all of us as well."  
  
Jackson's lip quivered, he looked down at his partner  
who was trying to make him feel better. The feeling of  
killing someone was just too much to bear. "I-I didn't have  
to...I-I-I could've..." he stuttered.  
  
"NO," Ranma firmly said. "There was no other fucking  
choice. You saw the shot, and you TOOK it. The best choice  
isn't always the easiest, Jackson. You've gotta live with  
it."  
  
"I didn't mean to do it, Captain," Jackson cried. "I  
didn't mean to kill him!"  
  
"Don't worry about it," soothed Ranma. He knew how his  
first kill felt like. For the second time in his life he  
would be comforting his partner after a shootout with  
casualties.  
  
Miyuki stood up and walked over to Jackson who was  
sitting down against a wall, curled up. She hugged him  
tightly, and whispered into his ear. "Thank you for saving  
my life from that psycho, I'm in debt to you," she said.  
"You had to kill him, otherwise he would have killed me and  
everyone else," she comforted. Natsumi came over to him and  
hugged him as well, just for the sake of finding comfort and  
giving comfort to someone.  
  
Jackson lifted his head up to reveal his red eyes to  
the two officers, he looked over to his partner and superior  
officer.  
  
"Captain, was life as an SIS detective always like  
this?" Jackson asked in English. "Is this what being an JNSA  
agent is all about?"  
  
Ranma gave him a steeled look. "No," he replied back in  
English. "You stick with me kid, this is only the  
beginning."  
  
[End Chapter 5]  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: This is fanfiction, I don't plan to make a  
profit out of someone else's work, just don't sue me.  
Jackson Samamoto is mine, all mine!  
  
Author's Ramble: Wow! That took me forever to finish!  
Although in truth I didn't really finish at all. The reason  
why I was so delayed was because of constant working stress,  
inflexible scheduling, and other personal matters. This  
chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, however as time  
passed I found myself working on other projects as well  
(like the complete prose rewrites of chapters 1 and 2!). I'm  
sorry if you've been anxious. At least I'm not like Hawk,  
where I lag forever and ever. ^_^ I didn't want to torture  
people with my slow lagging, so I made the hard decision of  
stopping the chapter here and releasing it to the public.  
  
Author's Notes: Hoo boy, let's see. First off the JDA. The  
Japanese Defense Agency is actually a real government agency  
in Japan, and I know this much that they are indeed the only  
military capable force that the Japanese government has. I'm  
not 100% sure on this, but hopefully I researched it  
correctly. I pretty much made up Nabiki's occupation in the  
JDA, I just made everything to my own convenience. Sue me if  
you have a problem with it. :p  
  
For those of you who participated in the poll located  
on my website concerning Nabiki's occupation...it's amazing  
how the second least chosen criteria was actually the  
correct one. You never guessed Nabiki would be a spook, did  
ya? ^_-  
  
If you've noticed, I have an annoying tendency to  
describe in full details about anything concerning  
automobiles. ^^;; For instance all the fancy gear and foot  
work Ranma does in his Mitsubishi Legnum VR-4 (which is a  
tight ass sports wagon sold only in Japan and it's packed  
with a turbocharged 276PS engine) is real, double clutching  
to downshift and sprint, as well as double clutch downshift  
emergency engine braking. If you don't know what I'm talking  
about, tough luck. You'll have to e-mail me or ask someone  
who knows lots about engine mechanics (and not just some  
snotty idiot who reads a lot of car magazines).  
  
I've added Jackson as a cool, tough guy type yet soft  
natured partner for Ranma. His previous occupation is being  
part of the GIGN, which stands for Groupe de Securite et  
d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale. They are  
France's best counter-terrorists, unfortunately not one of  
the world's best. I haven't said enough about his character  
yet, so expect me to describe him and develop his character  
some more in the next chapter. If you want a better idea of  
what he looks like, imagine an Asian Kurt Russell. Don't  
ask, that was just the picture I had in my head when I  
created him.  
  
IMI stands for Israeli Military Industries. They are  
the manufacturers of the Desert Eagle pistols, as well as  
the Jericho pistol (known as the Baby Eagle in the US) and  
the famous Galiel (I think that's how you spell it) assault  
rifle.  
  
And for you people who constantly criticized me for  
giving Ranma super weapons that were modified by Washu,  
voila. I've shown you here in this chapter they are used  
(and modded) for a practical reason, not for me to turn him  
into a fucking indestructible super hero. See, even Ranma  
can get shot in the line of duty!  
  
The Weaver Tactical Stance. The Weaver Stance that  
Jackson used while trailing Ranma for the first hit is the  
(probably worldwide) standard for a mobile tactical shooting  
stance. To describe what it looks like, a right handed  
shooter has both his hands on the pistol in a double hand  
dynamic grip, with the right arm straight and the left arm  
slightly bent in a comfortable position for assisted recoil  
absorbance. The shooter also has his body angled to a side  
so that he/she is a thinner and smaller target, and the feet  
are placed relatively close to each other. There are two  
phases of this stance, the ready-fire position and low-ready  
position. Ready-fire position is basically having the pistol  
raised and ready to shoot. Low-ready position is having both  
arms bent downwards so that maneuverability is restored and  
the firearm is in a safer position. There is much  
controversy to the effectiveness of the Weaver Stance. Some  
people believe that for law enforcement a competition style  
stance is much better(which is similar to the Weaver Stance  
except that the body is not angled, both arms are bent for  
somewhat easier targeting, and feet are spread wider apart  
for somewhat better rapid fire positioning) than a Weaver  
Stance because peace officers wear (or should be wearing)  
ballistic vests to protect the chest and torso. A Weaver  
Stance leaves the side of your body vulnerable, even if the  
target is smaller, which is unprotected by a bullet proof  
vest.  
  
The car that Jackson spots, the Nissan Fairlady, is (or  
used to be when it was still sold here in the US) the Nissan  
300ZX. An excellent sports car in my opinion.  
  
The two female cops at the end of this chapter, if you  
can't recognize them, then... I don't know what to tell you.  
You've been seriously deprived of some great anime. ^^;;;  
  
The so called "kill zone" that caught Ranma's immediate  
attention when Jackson, Miyuki, and Natsumi were inspecting  
the trunk is actually a very important police term. The kill  
zone is the area between a suspect's vehicle and the law  
enforcement vehicle. One thing that the LAPD teaches very  
well (I'm sure the NYPD do this as well) is to control the  
kill zone. The most fatal mistake any police officer(s) can  
make is turning their back on criminals while they are in  
the kill zone. In addition to that, any small radius of area  
where a suspect stands is considered a moving kill zone.  
There are many ignorant peace officers out there who make  
the mistake of handling three or more guys at once by  
themselves (or with only one partner for that matter)  
without calling for backup. By doing this, they can't  
control every suspect, and they eventually turn their back  
to do something (calling the radio, checking the trunk,  
etc...) and they get attacked. Even those who don't turn  
their backs but don't call for backup are easily overpowered  
and manhandled, even with partners. There have been many  
poor officers who have been killed in the line of duty  
because of this simple, yet fatal error. In this fic Ranma  
recognizes this danger, and he takes action immediately when  
he sees it.  
  
In case any of you start whining about how it's  
impossible that Ranma survived a .357 Magnum to the chest  
even with a ballistic vest, all standard issue vests for  
police officers (we use the cheapest and least protective  
ones) can stop .357 Magnum rounds at close range. For those  
officers who shell out extra bucks for a ceramic or steel  
chest plate, those stop 5.56mm NATO rifle rounds.  
  
So next time, expect to see the aftermath of this most  
recent incident, Ranma's SPECIAL training for Jackson, Kiyo  
and Ranma's first day of high school, and much more!  
  
Big praise to Kenneth "KPJAM" Payne and RedPriest17  
(and a small thanks to Therm for pointing out a problem with  
my dialogue grammar in his usual, professionally pessimistic  
way ^_^) for prereading my work. Thanks to you guys, I get  
to look just a bit more intelligent. ^_^  
  
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way  
faster when people give me feedback! My e-mail is  
SgtRanma@yahoo.com .  
  
Visit my website at http://sgtranma.anifics.com, or go  
to http://sgtranma.anifics.com/guns.html to take a look at  
some of the weapons Ranma uses in Officer Saotome. I always  
update there often, and fics always come there first.  
  
Finished December 31st, 2001. Revised for final edition  
January 22nd, 2002. 


End file.
